


Twofold

by zeroseconds (Agwen)



Category: Ghost Hunt, Mononoke
Genre: Chaptered, Crossover, Gore, Implied/Referenced Dubious Consent, Mind Manipulation, Multi, Mystery, On Hiatus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2008-01-30
Updated: 2013-05-04
Packaged: 2017-12-30 16:46:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1021031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agwen/pseuds/zeroseconds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of chilling events occur at a remote resort, leaving the members of SPR to wonder about who is pulling the strings of the manipulated. (Revised edition)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First published: January 30, 2008  
> Last update of old version: March 24, 2009

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: the story contains a few supernaturally induced non-graphical cases of dubious consent. The gore is somewhat graphic.

_Mid-June, 2000._

 

On a particularly hot afternoon in mid-June Yasuhara Osamu took a sip of iced tea provided by the luxury of Shibuya Psychic Research. On the opposite side of the sitting area in the office and enjoying the same kind of luxury, were his boss Shibuya Kazuya and his co-worker Taniyama Mai. All three of them were quietly sitting like usual in the air cooled office, but only Yasuhara seemed rather pleased by something. Mai had been watching the college student. After seeing those signs on his face, she could only assume he was in the middle of plotting something, or at least close to fulfilling the conditions of a situation that would work out well for him - in other words, a very convenient situation for the brilliant student.

 

Neither Mai or her boss said anything, and they didn't have to either, because the student was the first to prompt a conversation by saying two simple words.

 

"Summer vacation."

 

They had raised their eyebrows simultaneously.

 

Again, Mai could only think that Yasuhara wanted to take a few days off for a trip or wanted to ask her about what kind of plans she had in store for the rest of the vacation. She wasn't going, because she was low on money and it wasn't as if she could go with her friends. Her friends went with their own families, and even though both Keiko and Michiru had invited to go with them, she politely declined. If it was out of pity, she wouldn't. If it was going to feel awkward with a family during the trip, she wasn't going to.

 

She did want to go on a vacation though. The last time had been a school trip to somewhere outside of Tokyo, which was during her junior high school days.

 

Mai was surprised that the question that followed wasn't directed at her.

 

"How about it, Shibuya-san?" Yasuhara said with a glint of curiosity on the rim of his glasses.

 

Her boss gave the other an unamused stare. He probably was thinking of a good way to escape the conversation without getting trapped into sticky web that was plotted by his part-time worker.

 

Mai almost snorted, and deciding to help her boss, she said, "Even if you try to convince Naru, such a thing is absolutely impossible."

 

Yasuhara regarded her for a moment.

 

"How pessimistic, Taniyama-san," he replied with a slight look of surprise. The tone of voice he used fitted his nickname ' _Echigoya_ ' that had an old and wise man kind of feel to it. "I was just wondering whether our boss has the date set for our wonderful vacation in the middle of nowhere."

 

She became slightly alarmed at the prospect of her boss's increasingly bad mood.

 

"Really?" Mai said sceptically.

 

Yasuhara propped his chin with his fingers and dreamily stared at the ceiling.

 

"Nowadays a company has a wonderful thing called, a team outing!" he said, using his marketeer voice, "Building the relationship between the employer and his beloved employees... that is an event of utmost importance!"

 

Mai leaned back into her chair.

 

"Even if you say that, I doubt Naru is interested in a thing like that..."

 

A look of surprise crossed his face

 

"Taniyama-san, why would you think so?"

 

Mai sighed.

 

"Well, in the first place... Naru has no interest in something other than the paranormal, right? On top of that he's a workaholic!"

 

Naru sighed.

 

"Don't speak for me, Mai."

 

She shook her head.

 

"But it's true, isn't it. We never had anything like that in the first place," Mai said, and added, "Although we've been on all kinds of trips for paranormal reasons, it would be nice to go somewhere without encountering any ghosts."

 

Yasuhara nodded in agreement and then looked at the boss.

 

"Well, Shibuya-san?"

 

With a twitch of an eyebrow, the boss replied coldly, "We've booked for the 2nd of July."

 

Mai almost dropped her cup of tea on the carpet.

 

"Say what?!"

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

_Day 1: Sunday, 2nd of July, 2000._

 

_17:31 (5:31 PM)_

 

Waiting.

 

The sun had passed the midday a long time ago. The man found himself in the roadside, waiting in the weeds that danced furiously until they died down. Suddenly, a strong wind blew from the north, and fled to the south-west in a drawn out curl through the dandelions. The man's gaze had followed the path the wind had taken, and stopped near the crossover where a dark-skinned man swept the dirt off the mostly abandoned street. He swept up the clipped dandelions off the entranceway that was before the parking place of a bungalow park. The man worked with a pair of strained arms and had expected the street to be as abandoned just like the parking place he had just come from. 

 

There was a familiar jingling sound heard from behind the back of the man who was waiting in the dandelions.

 

"Hoòh," he heard himself say, which was audible to the man next to him.

 

The man with the sweeping brush looked at the strange man from head to toe. He judged him to be a rarely seen oddity with the somewhat old-fashioned garments and the brown box on his back decorated with symbols. He wondered if the brown box was the man's suitcase, but dismissed the thought as the man in question did not behave like a normal tourist. If he had been he would have tried to go inside and wouldn't be standing in the way.

 

Yes, the man stood in the way, despite not occupying the entranceway. He's scare off potential clients.

 

"Ah, sir," he called out, trying to catch the oddly clothed man's attention. "Are you a guest?"

 

The man's eye pupils turned upward to his direction.

 

"Selling medicine," the man spoke slowly, and added to that, "Is what I do."

 

His eyebrows fell together at one point and his mouth distorted at one side of his face. This was going to be troublesome. His sister would scold him if he left him there.

 

"I see... Then I kindly ask you to leave this terrain. You'll only be disturbing our guests," he said with a slight tone of warning.

 

There was a pause before the other replied curtly.

 

"Ooh."

 

With a surprised face the medicine seller glanced at where he stood. Both of his feet were already standing on the parking place and neither of them seemed to have any idea how it happened.

 

"Is that so? Please excuse myself."

 

Two steps to the back, then turning his back and bowing to the other sir, he walked off the small hill slowly and took place just outside. Once again he went to sit down at the roadside next to the entranceway, but not in the weeds.

 

"What are you doing there?" The man sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.

 

The medicine seller regarded the other man curiously, before he said, "Well, perhaps I have... some luck. With the people who may pass by."

 

The man groaned softly.

 

"You won't make any business here."

 

"Such a pity that is," he said, "How is business going for you, sir?"

 

"Just the usual."

 

"Many visitors, I presume."

 

"Not many. Nobody has come in today."

 

"Is that so?" The medicine seller asked with a tone of surprise, "It looks as if you had much baggage to carry. Today."

 

Caught off guard the man blinked his eyes and the sweeping brush trembled in response to the shaking of his hands.

 

"I can see it from you face."

 

"...Oh," he merely replied.

 

"Would you perhaps like something... against exhaustion?"

 

An intense gaze fell on him and he saw how the medicine seller gestured at the box that was seated next to him on the grass. Of course, of course, the medicine seller was trying to sell him something, he confirmed to his relief. Maybe he was indeed not much of a trouble.

 

"No, thank you," he replied.

 

"Ah, well then," he said with some disappointment, "You will find me here... if you change your mind."

 

The man shrugged before he went back to the placed he worked at.

 

_Motohashi Bungalow Resort._

 

"Or if I get a reason to stay for the night," the medicine seller said to himself as he opened the two smaller drawers to pass the unoccupied hours. This time it didn't rain and he was glad for it.

 

The man who had gone back to work was sitting in the reception area of the hall and waited for the customers to come. As usual it was boring as ever. An half hour had passed since his conversation with the medicine seller, whom he hoped to never see again. If he had to be honest just talking to that guy gave him goosebumps. While looking at the bookings for today, Motohashi Kenjirou yawned loudly. One group from Tokyo had reserved two bungalows, under the name of SPR. He had no idea what the abbreviation meant. In any case, the group could arrive any moment. His gaze wandered to yesterday's page. Two monks had arrived. An old, short man and a young guy. Kenjirou was of the opinion that the youth kissed the ground the old man was walking on. Again, goosebumps.

 

He suddenly heard the thin voice of his sister.

 

"You done cleaning?"

 

"Yes, ma'am," he said, and glanced at the entrance of the reception area, where the Misako stood. The old age already troubled her, because she was leaning a hand against the door for support and the half-pinned grey hair curled to the back. Misako was many years older than him and when he looked at her, his back started to ache. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to ask the medicine seller about painkillers, or at least something for his back.

 

"Good," Misako said, and went to sit down on a seat near the door and breathed out heavily.

 

They heard the sound of running footsteps from inside the main hall and a voice of a girl loudly exclaiming, "Aunty!"

 

"Shhh!!!" The two siblings held a finger in front of their mouths.

 

A girl of the age of twenty was standing in front of them and she was out of breath from the running.

 

"Ah, I'm sorry!"

 

She clasped her hands in front of her face as an apologizing gesture.

 

"What's it?" The old woman demanded.

 

"Where's dad? Have you seen him?"

 

"Why?"

 

The girl placed her hands on her hips.

 

"I haven't seen him since yesterday."

 

Kenjirou replied with little interest, "Gone. Got called and had to leave. Don't know why."

 

Disappointment was written all over her face and she huffed.

 

"Ahh, he had promised to go to Tokyo with me today."

 

"Tokyo? Why?" Misako asked, lifting an eyebrow in curiosity.

 

"To shop of course! Well, not him, 'cause he had some business to take care of or something, but we'd go out to dinner after that."

 

"Probably didn't have any time for that. He went without you, Kiyo-chan," Kenjirou said, "If you wanna go to Tokyo, you may as well take the train."

 

"A girl? All alone? No way!" Misako protested.

 

Her niece sighed.

 

"I wasn't planning to go by myself. Naturally it's more fun with two people."

 

Misako sighed as well, and eyed the sliding doors of glass that led to the parking place.

 

"I don't know what your dad's thinking, but try not to go for the upcoming weeks. As you know it's going to be busier during the summer and we can't afford to have personnel on leave. Today we'll be getting a group. Prepare yourself."

 

She nodded and her uncle looked at his wrist watch.

 

"It's almost time," he said. "Kiyo-chan, come and help me, okay?"

 

"Sure~!"

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

_18:00 (6:00 PM)_

 

Someone was calling her name, but she didn't answer. She was called again, but there was only silence. The voice of a woman yelled loudly in her ear and shook her shoulders.

 

"Mai!"

 

Now she was awake. She blinked in confusion and stared at the red-haired woman's face.

 

"Wha-what is it, Ayako?"

 

"Finally! I've been trying to wake you up from your nap for a while," she said and folded her arms.

 

Mai gave no answer, because she realized she had drooling from her chin. She gazed reluctantly at the window she had been using as a pillow. Oops. With a handkerchief she tried to wipe it off the screen without letting anybody know.

 

"Taniyama-san."

 

She jolted in her seat at hearing Lin's voice.

 

"Within five minutes we'll arrive at the resort," he announced from the driver's seat.

 

"Really? Thanks for letting me know," she said, and stared at the person next to him.

 

Naru had been watching her all along and right now he was smirking a little. She grimaced. Of all people who knew she had been drooling against the window, it had to be him. Ugh.

 

"It sure is packed in here. I can't wait to get out of this stuffy car," the miko complained loudly.

 

On the other end of the second row, a young man with dirty blonde hair with ear-buds said, "Quit complaining. I can't listen to my music if you keep going on like that."

 

Ayako looked obviously irritated.

 

"Says who? At least buy some proper headphones. Your annoying music is coming through and it's irritating everyone!" she said, and added with a sly tone, "Except Mai."

 

The miko poked the girl with an elbow, and received glares from all around her.

 

"I'm trying to read a book," Naru said with an annoyed voice.

 

From the very back of the van, between the suitcases a merry voice said, "How very pleasant! Shall we throw out the ladies if they're that noisy, then I can sit in the front."

 

"Shut up!" The women said simultaneously and the monk laughed.

 

"Next to Takigawa-san," Yasuhara added with a creepy voice and the monk immediately stopped laughing.

 

The others burst out in laughter. Mai saw how Lin carefully hid a subtle smile behind a hand, before he took the steering wheel properly again. As she was sitting right behind Naru, she couldn't see his expression. The boss had already buried himself in the book. Mai couldn't believe it. She was going on vacation with Naru. Together with that workaholic? What a priceless joke! Not much longer and they would finally arrive at the Motohashi Bungalow Resort. Mai looked forward to the days to come and stared out the window eagerly for a sign of the resorts.

 

A few minutes later they passed a bridge and an old looking manor, and then they finally saw the building with the logo of the resort. Mai blinked when she saw someone sitting next to the entranceway of the parking place.

 

The car was parked and the miko was the first one to get out, but not before she shove the monk out of his seat.

 

"Hey, watch it, stupid hag!" Takigawa yelled and got smacked with a purse.

 

"Let's check in," Naru said to Lin, who nodded, and then he faced Mai and the others and coldly ordered, "Unload the van."

 

"Yes sir," Mai said sarcastically, "Everything crystal clear."

 

Yasuhara slipped out of the back of the van, and brushed himself with his hands.

 

"Are you all right?" she asked, deeply concerned.

 

"Of course, Taniyama-san," Yasuhara said, smiling with his eyes hidden under a pair of glass the glinted for a single moment. 

 

It was he who had convinced the great 'Shibuya Kazuya', or the Narcissistic Naru' or whatever he was called, to take a vacation. Apparently Naru couldn't refuse the offer and nobody except for those two knew what the whole deal was about. She had heard Ayako and Takigawa whisper along the lines of _'Cold war! Blackmail! A pact!'_ during the long car trip. Obviously, neither Yasuhara or Naru offered an answer of sorts.

 

Yasuhara was stretching himself a few meters ahead. It certainly hadn't been pleasant to sit in the back of the van. There was no place in the two front rows. Takigawa and Lin wouldn't fit, and they were the ones who would drive, and of course nobody dared to ask or even to suggest that the big bad boss would switch with him. It was just not done. Or it had to be one of the women, or Yasuhara. He had insisted on taking the burden off the ladies by sitting in the back by himself, spending long hours between the suitcases as long as Lin would drive carefully. He did all of that while solidly keeping an eternal smile on his face. Now he watched everyone calmly through his legs, when no one noticed him. Ayako put on a lovely pink hat on her head, and Takigawa took out a pair of sunglasses from his backpack.He finished his stretching exercise, but did not know how to overcome the pain in his behind.

 

"Ah, I'm finished!" Mai said and closed the door. The baggage around her was waiting to be picked up by the others. "Yasuhara-san?"

 

"Hm? Yes, Taniyama-san?"

 

"You didn't see it of course, but when we drove in I saw some weird looking guy sitting in the roadside next to a box? Do you want to come and see?"

 

He frowned.

 

"...really? Why not then, let's take a look. Checking in should take a while, I suppose."

 

They walked until they were at the entranceway. There he was indeed, a few meters ahead of them. The man looked as if he was asleep. Yasuhara observed his attire carefully. He looked rather out of the place in this time, but he'd seen this outfit in some historical textbooks.

 

"Ah," he whispered to the girl. "Wouldn't this be a medicine seller? I can't believe they are still around though..."

 

"A medicine seller?" Mai said as she raised an eyebrow.

 

He adjusted his glasses and let his Echigoya persona slip in.

 

"Indeed, the last time I saw a mobile medicine seller was about 130 years ago, at the beginning of the Meiji period."

 

"Mai! Young man!"

 

Takigawa called them from the main building.

 

"That's quick."

 

"Tell Naru we're coming!" Mai shouted back.

 

Whatever they had expected of the building, in reality it was nothing too extravagant. The interior was neat and clean. Mai noticed it wasn't constructed in the Japanese style at all. The staff had been very friendly so far. The client service went smoothly and orderly. A young and kind lady of her own age handed the members of Shibuya Psychic Research some brochures about the useful things on the site and the sightseeing guides.

 

Ayako tapped her shoulder.

 

"Mai. The monk said that we're going to eat dinner in the restaurant, before we head over to the bungalows."

 

Mai nodded.

 

"Okay, sounds good."

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

_18:20 (6:20 PM)_

 

Awake. It was so dark and foggy before his eyes.

 

A young man whose hair was just as black as the clothes he was wearing, slowly climbed out of his sleep. He was floating somewhere in a surrounding full of trees. It felt so lonely, so he leapt over the forest and discovered a certain amount of bungalows in the neighbourhood. Not far from a long street he saw a bigger building. The young man travelled in the direction of that building as he watched the people who walked around.

 

It was so unclear and strange, and he felt as if some things were blocked from his vision.

 

He found himself on a parking lot with several cars. One was a van. He knew that one. The boy looked at the vehicle for a moment, until he noted the strange figure near the entranceway. A muscled man. Long silver hair. Golden garments. He hesitated in approaching the waiting individual, but it was too late to turn back when the man turned his head to where the boy was standing. He was captured with shock as he observed the strange appearance of the man. His dark skin was covered with golden signs, he had pointy ears and inhuman eyes of which black had replaced the eye whites.

 

Who is this, and what's the meaning of this?

 

The strange man already was in one blink of an eye before his feet. He was not much taller than him, so he was eyes in eye with one he had never seen before in his afterlife.

 

"How unusual..."

 

The voice sounded mysteriously dignified.

 

The boy couldn't bring out a word. If he could, he would have fled, but the man had already grabbed his arm before he could do so. There was no chance of escaping. This person was...

 

"It seems you are not bound to this place. Unlike..."

 

He didn't finish the sentence and merely looked at the boy curiously.

 

"....how?" he finally asked with eyes snapped wide open.

 

"That is of no matter."

 

He felt himself slip away from conscience.

 

"Who?"

 

"You won't get an answer."

 

He let go of the boy after having observed him intensely.

 

Before the boy knew it, he fell into a deep and somehow electrifying sleep again.

 

"Not yet," the strange man said as he closed his own eyes, only to wake up in reality again.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Echigoya: The name of a very old fabric store. Yasuhara Osamu was nicknamed after this by his fellow students due to his personality being seemingly old, wise, innocent and sly.
> 
> Crossover: While this fanfic is a crossover, you can read it without having seen the Bake Neko arc of Ayakashi ~Japanese classic horror~ (last three episodes) or the Mononoke series. Though I do highly recommend watching it, because it's one of the greatest mystery and horror anime series around.
> 
> Medicine seller: The main character of the above-mentioned anime. His real name is unknown. He will be referred to as Kusuriuri-san (Mr. Medicine seller) within the dialogue.
> 
> Reincarnated Mononoke characters in this chapter.
> 
> Motohashi Kenjirou: Tokuji (Zashiki Warashi)
> 
> Motohashi Misako: Hisayo (Zashiki Warashi)
> 
> Motohashi Rekiyo: Kayo/Chiyo (Bake Neko)


	2. Chapter 2

_Day 1: Sunday, 2nd of July, 2000._

 

19:00 (7:00 PM)

 

The group exited the main building and walked until they reached a crossroad. One of the gravelled roads went into the direction of the lake and the other went to the forest. The young boss stared carefully at the map that was in his hands for about fifteen seconds, but was snatched up by Takigawa after Naru folded it together. The map was rather useless and didn't give him the details he wanted. However, the monk looked at it closely and tapped on the map with the back of his finger.

 

"So here we have them... Which of the two do you want? There's no differences between the bungalows, so it all depends on which scenery you prefer."

 

Naru shrugged and Yasuhara used it as a cue to say something.

 

"Isn't it better if the ladies decide for us? They're in the minority after all."

 

The miko smiled flirtatiously.

 

"You've been so generous lately, so why don't you stay over at our place?"

 

"You're very welcome, Matsuzaki-san," he said with a prim smile, "But... I'm afraid I have to pass on your offer in order to remain chaste and pure."

 

"Why you..."

 

Takigawa and Mai burst into laughter and Ayako was trying very hard to keep a straight face.

 

"Well, if Ayako's fine with it, I think I'd like the one by the lake," Mai said.

 

The miko nodded.

 

"Then it's settled... the four of us will go over there?" Takigawa pointed at a couple of buildings near the forest.

 

After Ayako and Mai received the keys from Lin, the young women dragged their suitcases in the direction of the lake. Takigawa talked to Lin as they walked ahead of the younger men.

 

"As expected we got the bungalow near the media facility building, which is just as planned... It will be helpful for information gathering, I hope," Yasuhara said, and added with a serious face, "Also, I tried reaching the number they gave me, but I'm afraid the man we've been in contact with is unreachable."

 

Naru heaved a sigh.

 

"This isn't going anywhere..."

 

Yasuhara remained silent.

 

"Tomorrow after lunch, we're going to have a look at that cave. Make sure you've done your preparations," he said to his employee.

 

Three hours later Yasuhara went to visit the ladies together with the monk. They chatted for a full hour about the resort, how there was a swimming pool, how beautiful the lake was, etcetera. The four continued to do so until Naru walked in and demanded his usual tea. Lin never came, because he went to bed early. It appeared that Yasuhara managed to make an arrangement for the following day regarding a visit to some kind of forbidden cave. Mai thought it sounded eerie, but from what she could make out of the folder she was given by him, it seemed to be an ordinary cave with a made-up story behind it. Yasuhara thought it might inspire some casual ghost hunting, but Naru seemed to be very uninterested.

 

A short hour later the trio left the bungalow, leaving the duo alone. The girl went to the window and stared out of the window. She could see the lake and a forest enveloping the body of water.

 

"Mai, aren't you going to sleep?" Ayako asked with a loud yawn.

 

Mai grinned.

 

"I'm not sleepy yet."

 

"I thought you would be. I'm surprised you slept all the way from Tokyo until here. Silly girl."

 

Mai laughed as she scratched the back of her head.

 

"Well, I warned you. Good night."

 

"Sleep well," she said and stuck out a tongue.

 

After Ayako closed the door of her bedroom, the girl proceeded to stare out of the window. There was nothing unsettling about where they were now. She wondered if this could be a real vacation, but somehow she doubt it was such a thing. Naru would never have agreed to this.

 

Mai felt sweaty, so she went to have a shower and changed into a yellow dress. After that she spent some time watching the television.

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

_Day 2: Monday, 3rd of July, 2000._

 

00:00

 

It was midnight, and Mai was bored out of her mind. Maybe she could take a closer look at the lake and the stars. It was rare for her to be out of an urban area, so she never saw the stars so clearly like she could now. Mai grabbed the key from the counter and softly exited the house. The cool of the night greeted her and felt refreshing from the hot humidity earlier that day. She walked towards the shelter and upon arrival her jaw dropped. She could even see the moon and stars reflected clearly in the lake's reflection. She stared dreamily ahead of her, until she felt a warm hand on her right shoulder.

 

Mai shrieked and turned around to see her grumpy looking boss standing behind her. She had never heard him coming.

 

"Na-Naru! You scared me!"

 

He said nothing to her and just responded with a smirk, which angered Mai somewhat. He wore a buttoned white shirt under the black blazer he loosely had on his shoulders. Although he had recently been wearing other colours, Naru still wore mostly black. For example, Mai had never seen him in blue jeans.

 

She sighed when he didn't say anything, and turned around again to look at the lake again. Naru followed her gaze. They noticed the assembly of clouds from far away had started to gather above the lake, and conveniently hid the half-lit moon, so the stars could shine at their best. She wondered why he had come to the lake as well. Mai felt the silence was too awkward and decided to break it.

 

"I saw the shelter from our bungalow, and I wanted to take a close look at the lake," she said, and then saw that the stars were fading slowly from their reflections in the war.

 

"You could have done that at daytime," Naru said, and was currently leaning his back against one of the stone pillars, surrounded by a bush of burgundy-coloured roses.

 

"Well, I couldn't sleep. How about you?"

 

"Not sure."

 

Naru's expressionless gaze went from the clouds to the re-appearing reflections of the stars and the moon in the lake. Another party of clouds covered the sky, and they ultimately started to disappear from the deep in the lake, until it reached their side. It was much darker than before and the forest seemed to have gotten as silent as the death.

 

Truthfully, Mai still felt awkward around him in such a situation. It was similar to that of a year ago, when she had confessed to him. She had made up her mind, and the timing was perfect. Mai could say it right now.

 

After taking a deep breath, she looked at Naru with a steady gaze, but she didn't find him leaning against the stone pillar. Naru had stepped away a while ago, and had gone down to the misty path that lead to the forest.

 

"...where are you going?"

 

He replied with a layer of sarcasm, "To the forest, Taniyama-san."

 

Mai frowned and wondered why he would go to the forest in the middle of the night.

 

Naru walked on without looking back, but halted once he realized that Mai wasn't following him.

 

"You're not scared, are you?"

 

Easily challenged, she smirked back at him. He wanted her to follow him?

 

"Scared? After everything I've been through?" she said with a laugh. "So what are you going to do?"

 

Naru smirked back at her.

 

"I'm going to amuse myself with the forest spirits."

 

Mai raised an eyebrow. He must be quite desperate to have gotten this far.

 

"Forest spirits?"

 

Naru held out a hand and she sort of half-freaked out, because she didn't know what he meant by doing that.

 

Oh god, he had gotten crazily bored.

 

Still, the hand was still there and if it was real she would be able to assert its reality. There was a short moment before she accepted his invitation and grabbed onto his warm hand. At least he wasn't possessed or something like that.

 

They were holding hands. Naru was taking her along for a nightly walk in the forest. Just the two of them. They followed a path which winded next tot he lake.

 

"Na-Naru, are you all right?" she stammered.

 

He slightly frowned back at her, before he turned his head again.

 

"Yes."

 

She began to freak out and was glad that Naru wasn't looking at her fiery red face. What were they doing at all?

 

"Can I say it now?" She asked after a while.

 

"What is it?"

 

"You're bored out of your mind."

 

"You know me too well."

 

She somewhat admired Yasuhara for being able to twist the boss around his finger just like that, and almost felt pity for Naru. Almost.

 

Then a raindrop fell on her shoulder. Another one, then more.

 

"Oh no..."

 

"There's another shelter not far from here," he said.

 

Mai wondered whether he had memorized that from the map he had taken a quick look at earlier. Their pace quickened and in the meanwhile they had let go of each other's hands. The rain didn't cease pouring.

 

"Ugh!"

 

"Why didn't you take your jacket? Naru said.

 

"It it would rain, I'd go home," Mai said, "Unlike me, you went prepared."

 

"Naturally.

 

"In other words, you knew it was going to rain."

 

"Unlike you, I did listen to the weather forecast on the radio."

 

"You listen to the radio?!"

 

"Yes, ...and who slept through it?”

 

She yelled back at him, "You could have warned me though!"

 

He didn't say anything back.

 

"Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'm soaking wet now. ---hey!"

 

He had thrown his blazer at his head.

 

"Walk, don't talk!"

 

"Yes sir," Mai said, as she held onto the warm blazer smelling faintly of roses.

 

A half hour later they had reached their destination. It didn't look pretty and noteworthy at all. The wooden cabin looked like it hadn't been taken care of for a long time and the air inside felt rather humid. Mai stroked down her wet dress, before she sat down on the bench by the wired window opening.

 

"I don't think we'll be seeing any ghosts at all," Mai said as she shivered.

 

Naru stood by the entrance and kept staring at the trees outside.

 

"Why not?"

 

"I just have that feeling."

 

"Right."

 

After that he didn't make a movement or any sound for approximately five minutes. Mai had no watch on her and had no idea what to say to her boss. There were obviously no forest spirits, so why did he take her to this place, alone and of his own accord?

 

"Naru?"

 

He didn't even look back at her and it made her feel uneasy. Her boss was simply standing there like a statue, and save for the occasional breeze that ruffled his hair and shirt, there was absolutely no movement. Mai wondered if he was getting even more wet from the splattering rain outside.

 

She attempted to restart the conversation once again.

 

"...do you know when it is going to stop raining?"

 

He finally opened his mouth.

 

"It will rain the entire night."

 

"...seriously?"

 

Again Mai received no reply, and she was beginning to get irritated at his lack of responses.

 

"...and you wanted to hunt on forest spirits so badly in this kind of weather? Give me a break."

 

Naru turned to face her. A cold glare decorated his face. His wet lips mouthed her name in a soft rebuke. Mai laughed quietly at how his bangs stuck to his forehead and how soggy his clothes looked at the front. He looked silly like that, even though it made him look attractive at the same time.

 

"What would you like to do then?" He asked slightly annoyed at being laughed at.

 

"Haa? You're asking me?

 

"Considering that I was the one who dragged you to this place."

 

"I have no idea."

 

"Then go sleep."

 

She protested.

 

"I already said I didn't feel like sleeping."

 

Naru walked over, pulled her off the wooden bench and stretched himself onto it.

 

"Naru!" She yelled, as he snatched the blazer away from her.

 

"Go play in the rain, Mai."

 

"No. Do you want me to get sick or something?"

 

He looked at her for a while, perhaps too long, because she was growing uncomfortable. The consideration resulted into Naru sitting upright and motioning his hand to his left side.

 

"Here."

 

Mai went to sit there.

 

"Why did I come along? This is boring," she said as the two of them stared at the entrance. She was lying, actually she did enjoy being alone with him.

 

"...idiot."

 

"Who's the idiot? I didn't want to ghost hunt in the forest while it's raining."

 

"Stop mentioning that."

 

His expression hardened.

 

Then he added, "You're not the only one who doesn't like being here."

 

"Then what Naru? What keeps you here? We could have gone without you."

 

The last part wasn't the case at all. It would have defeated the point of the trip. Without Naru, they wouldn't even have done this.

 

"What do you think?"

 

"Are we here for business or holidays?"

 

Naru sighed and looked at her with dark eyes.

 

"Does it matter to you?"

 

"...no."

 

Mai hung her head. If anything, the only thing that mattered to her were her friends, and most of all Naru. Being alone with Naru like this could be considered a dream. She always imagined confessing to him in this situation, but now it didn't matter at all.

 

He didn't respond to her at all in words, but she felt his blazer descending on her shoulder. Mai gasped when his arms pushed her to the other wall. He kept one hand on her right shoulder and stared straight into her eyes through his wet bangs. Warm, moist fingers lingered on her.

 

Any words that would have been spoken had become stuck in her throat.

 

His lips moved. 

 

"Are you trying to let go of me?"

 

His voice was steady. Too steady.

 

He added, "If it doesn't matter any more."

 

Mai looked down at her lap. She saw his other hand clasping the bench right next to her hip. The grasp on her shoulder was slowly released and he pulled back. Disappointment washed over her.

 

"Yeah, I tried letting go of you, you know."

 

"Why?"

 

"I-It hurt when I tried to."

 

Her voice was better and she refused to look at him. If she did she would cry again.

 

"Why did try to let go?"

 

"Does that even matter now?" she said, "The point is that I don't want to let go just yet."

 

"Not yet?"

 

"Uh... yeah."

 

"You're a stubborn idiot," he said slightly amused.

 

"Ugh, that's why. I hate to be willing to spend time with you despite that."

 

He quietly chuckled.

 

"Does that mean we're both masochistic?"

 

"Maybe. ...eh? What did you say?"

 

Mai looked up again and saw his expressionless face, that had begun to lean forward again. His hands settled down next to her hips and his torso leaned over her. She could barely catch her breath when he did that.

 

"I don't think I need to repeat that."

 

Mai shivered from the sudden touch when he moved in. She could taste the rain again. Sweet water. When he was about to pull away she grabbed his collar to pull him back again. She wanted to taste it again. Her hands slid down his wet shirt, undoing any buttons present. She slid one hand onto his bare chest and was pleased with the soft sounds he made. Suddenly he lifted her body up with his arms and had her lie down on the bench. Her right foot was positioned on the bench and the other on the ground. They heard the clattering of the heavy rain outside, the touch of a few droplets escaping into the cabin, but their attention was solely on each other. It all seemed to happen automatically, without a second thought or hesitation.

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

05:40

 

Morning light shone in her eyes. Several minutes later she heard soft voices in her mind. From the outside. Her sleepy head was barely able to make any sense of that, because she realized the current... rather intimate situation. Her skin felt hot and her face reddened when she noticed how close Naru's face was to hers, and it didn't help that she was more or less straddling him. She noticed the arm around her middle, and slowly took it off without waking Naru. He remained still and peacefully slept.

 

In a daze she nearly tripped over the black blazer that was discarded to the ground earlier that night, and accidentally stepped on one of her sandals. The other sandal had found its way to another corner of the cabin and she couldn't recall how that had happened.

 

Mai looked down. Her yellow dress was terribly dishevelled. One strap was loosely hanging off one shoulder. The other looked limp and required some readjustment.

 

Wait.

 

She wasn't wearing her bra.

 

Her panicked eyes looked around the cabin, but luckily she realized in time that she had left it at the bungalow. Due to having a small chest size, Mai did not always wear a bra at home. Especially in the evening she tended to take it off when nobody was around. She sighed. Apart from that, everything was in its place. She was happy, but at the same time she felt ashamed that things were progressing at such a fast pace.

 

Voices.

 

She remembered hearing voices, so she went outside the cabin after retrieving her sandals. Mai could barely see through the thick fog, so her hearing would have to show her the way to the source of voices. She didn't hear much of the conversation, thanks to the crickets loudly chirping on the background. Mai could barely strain her ears and caught only a few snippets of the conversation.

 

_........it's enough...._

 

_..... I don't want...._

 

A girl in her late teens.

 

_.....what they.... to me was...._

 

A man who was not much older than her.

 

_.....please.. for me...._

 

_........well.. you ... what have .... ever done.... me?_

 

Mai walked off a hill next to the cabin.

 

_......love you._

 

 _......that's someth-.. ….never seen.._ Mai stepped on a branch. _..... run! There's someone here!_

 

Water had enveloped her legs. Her eyes flew open all of sudden.

 

"Mai!"

 

She heard Naru's voice and stared in front of her.

 

The lake.

 

Mai looked down.

 

She was standing in the lake water up to her knees and had gotten her dress soggy.

 

"But there was nothing here!" she exclaimed, and looked back at Naru who was standing on mostly dry ground. 

 

"Taniyama-san, if you want to take a bath, you should do so in your bungalow," he said with a heavy layer of sarcasm. "If you want to commit suicide, please don't do it without my permission."

 

"But I didn't want to!" She yelled back. Due to the heavy fog, she couldn't see his face at all, but could very well imagine the anger on his face. Then she froze. "Where have those people gone to!?"

 

"What people?" he asked.

 

"Two people. A girl and a guy!" she said, as she slowly waded back to the side.

 

"The only people who fit the description are the two of us. I haven't seen anyone else."

 

He patiently helped her onto the steep hillside. Her summer dress was soaked at the bottom. Luckily she wasn't wearing any pants or socks. Her sandals plopped with every footstep she made.

 

"Mai, what did you see?" Naru asked.

 

"Nothing, but I heard voices. That's why I woke up."

 

He stared at her.

 

"You were sleepwalking."

 

She frowned back.

 

"I do not sleepwalk."

 

"You think I didn't mean that? I was awake the whole time."

 

Now that got her attention.

 

"Liar. You were sleeping and I saw it with my own eyes."

 

"You were the one who had your eyes closed," he replied with a sigh.

 

......whaaaat?!

 

"We-well, why didn't you wake me up?!"

 

He smirked.

 

"It amused me to see you stumble around like that. You even managed to retrieve both sandals without using your eyes. Good job."

 

Mai stepped on his foot as hard as she could, but it just made some of the moist ground give away. Suddenly she slipped and landed on her face

 

"Yuck!" She spit out some of the mud and saw her boss looking down at her with amused eyes.

 

"Stupid idiot."

 

She looked as mean as she could with her dirtied face, and proceeded to pull his ankle down, before he could get away from her.

 

"Mai..!"

 

He fell and slithered down.

 

"Is this your idea of a first date?"

 

His voice sounded edgy and invited her to fight back. She mercilessly laughed after throwing a handful of mud in Naru's face.

 

A good fifteen minutes later they finally went back to the world of the living. According to Naru's watch it was six o'clock in the morning, so with some luck they could go out of the way of people, when the vast majority was sleeping, without being stared after. Finally the house she lived in came into sigh as they were about to exit the forest area. Just a few minutes before they reached home.

 

Mai recalled what had happened and found it absolutely absurd. She shook her head.

 

"You think the others are already awake?" she asked after a while.

 

"Lin is always up at six."

 

"It's vacation, so why would he-"

 

He cut her off.

 

"I said, always."

 

At that point, Mai thought it was rather pitiful.

 

They passed the shelter where they stood earlier this night. Both were too tired to acknowledge that somebody was indeed sitting there and enjoying the sight of two muddy teenagers.

 

"Good morning."

 

Naru and Mai turned to see who greeted them. It was the blue kimono-wearing man they had seen yesterday when they had passed the entranceway. A dark purple kerchief was tied around his head, his pointy ears stood out and at one side of his face he had tied his grey hair with several rings. Around his neck he wore a round pendant. His face was young, but he seemed wise from the way he looked.

 

The medicine seller.

 

"G-Good morning," Mai said with an awkward grin, and bowed her head politely. Naru ignored him and was looking at somewhere in the distance, then he quickly departed.

 

"Na-naru, wait!"

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

06:00

 

Rekiyo was rendered speechless when she saw the two teenagers walking out of the forest. She was about to approach them, but changed her mind as soon as she received a deadly glare from the muddy young man. She was temporarily frozen in her shoes.

 

"What was that for?!" she said after recovering, and went into the direction of the pergola shelter to empty the garbage bin she forgot the night before.

 

There they met again.

 

The medicine seller was eye in eye with the girl whom he had seen earlier, and yet never had met before. The same voice and the same face. How should he type this kind of phenomena? Déjà-vu. Yes, that was it. That certain phenomena had happened quite often ever since he came to this time and place.

 

He was quickly taken out of his train of thoughts by the noisy girl.

 

Currently she was admiring the object that was resting in his hands with big dark eyes. He made magically made it appear earlier that night. Heavy rainfall required an umbrella after all.

 

"And? Where did you get that umbrella? It's so pretty!"

 

"My apologies," he said, "I only sell medicine."

 

"It's totally fine, just tell me where you bought it. The butterfly patterns are so cute~!" she squealed.

 

Butterflies? The medicine seller chuckled to himself.

 

"Ahh... Wait just a moment."

 

His hand motioned her to come a bit closer, and he whispered something in her ear.

 

"You're lying!" She said ecstatically. "I thought you were just some strange guy, but you're actually quite the romantic!"

 

"...I meant that, miss...?"

 

He wondered what she was called now.

 

"Motohashi Rekiyo, but you may call me Kiyo!" She bowed politely.

 

The name was not much different, as he thought.

 

"Kiyo-san then," he said, after nodding, "perhaps, you may be interested in sampling... these?"

 

"Really? There isn't anything wrong with me though," Rekiyo couldn't recall any troubles with her health or anything of relevance.

 

He gestured her once again to come closer and whispered.

 

Rekiyo's face went red.

 

"Oh my god! I had no idea you sell... those kind of things too~!" she said, but disappointedly continued, "but I don't have a significant other..."

 

"I would have thought otherwise."

 

He seemed to be earnestly surprised, but his smooth voice made her think it was something else. She couldn't decipher what it precisely was.

 

"Oh, you flatter me! That's why I wanted to go to Tokyo. There are no handsome and interesting men like you around here~"

 

Rekiyo giggled.

 

The medicine seller smirked a little.

 

"Well," he interrupted, "Any idea to whom I may... recommend this to?"

 

"Let me see... there are some couples in here, but..." the young lady mumbled as she pensively held a finger in front of her mouth.

 

"What do you think.... of the pair... we saw just a moment... ago?"

 

"Oh those two!"

 

Her voice switched into a different tone, a little more indignant, and not answering his question.

 

"The boyfriend is very handsome looking, but you know, he glared at me as if I looked like trash," she complained, "As if he couldn't stand the fact that I saw them like that. Did they go take a mud bath or something?!"

 

"Taking a mud bath... is a wellness to the skin," the medicine seller said in between her rant, but he was completely ignored.

 

"His girlfriend seems really nice, so I totally don't get why she got stuck with such a prick! A good looking prick at that, even I have to admit," she went on and on, "but he wasn't friendly at all when I gave him the map of the resort and such. Hello, I didn't do anything wrong at all!"

 

"Aah."

 

His voice sounded slightly confused after hearing all of that.

 

"That couple came with this group, and I've heard from my aunt that they'd insisted on going to the forbidden cave."

 

"Forbidden cave?" The medicine seller prompted with curiosity.

 

"There's nothing it it. It's just a tourist attraction. I'm so bummed that I have to be their guide of the day," she said, drew a little closer to him, and whispered in his ear "and did you know that..."

 

"Psychic Research team?"

 

"I heard that! I wonder why they'd come here at all. Except for taking a vacation of course."

 

"Most interesting."

 

"That's for sure."

 

"Kiyo!"

 

An old woman's voice screeched at her from far away.

 

"Stop loitering and get that garbage away from there. Now!"

 

"Aah, it's my aunt. I got caught," she said nervously, and grabbed the bag she had dragged to the shelter. "Gotta go! See you later."

 

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

06:10

 

They stood in front of the door of the cottage Ayako and Mai resided in. Mai peered at Naru after she took the key out of the pocket of her dress. Thinking about it briefly, it was a miracle that the key had not become lost during their little adventure in the woods.

 

"Don't you want to shower before you go back?" she suggested.

 

Naru stared as if her as if she had regained utter stupidity.

 

"Then I will have to shower there if I put on these clothes again, Taniyama-san."

 

"Right."

 

Mai stuck the key into the lock, and froze when she felt his body right in close proximity behind her. She felt her knees almost giving in.

 

"Listen," he whispered into her ear, "If you're going outside again, don't go alone, understood?"

 

She gulped, nodded in understanding and turned the key. 'It's not safe here', a voice in her head said. It almost sounded like a warning. Why would he say that? However, when she turned to look at him again, he was already gone. Mai went inside, took off her sandals, then looked into Ayako's bedroom to see that she hadn't woken up yet. Relieved, she slipped inside her own bedroom to grab her pyjama's, then quietly as possible went to wash herself in the shower.

 

Finally, Mai dived into her bed, only able to think of what happened that night, before she sunk into a deep sleep.

 

(o)~(o)

 

06:15

 

The sun began to shine brighter and a flock of birds were singing overhead to his dismay. 

 

Naru stood in front of the small house and could only think of the amount of options to stealthily get inside without somebody or something (in the case of Lin's shiki, should they be on alert) would notice him. He walked around and found Yasuhara and Takigawa sleeping soundly in their beds. Luckily he could avoid those big mouths, but the worst part had yet to come. He peeked in Lin's bedroom with his nose touching the glass briefly. No one was there. Naru could readily imagine someone laughing at him in the reflection of the window.

 

He noticed a tall person standing behind him and sighed.

 

"Lin."

 

There was a very long pause, before he received any response. The poor man looked as if he was having the shock of his life.

 

"...you... you didn't play in the mud for the whole night, did you?" he finally managed to say.

 

Naru shrugged.

 

"What if I did?"

 

"All on your own?"

 

"No, with the forest spirits," he smirked and walked past him.

 

Lin didn't believe one word of it.


	3. Chapter 3

_Day 2: Monday, 3rd of July, 2000._

 

07:47

 

He slowly sipped the coffee served by Yasuhara, and then returned his gaze to the newspaper he had been reading. He had arrived at the second page and wasn't able to continue. It wasn't that he had troubles reading Japanese. On the contrary, by now he had mastered most of the language in script. The difficulty emerged when his brain was unable to handle the vision he had seen very early this morning. The stupid scholar who was dyed in mud from head to toe. ' _Whatever did that child do last night?'_ he wondered. Before the boy was about to take a shower and quickly disappeared into the bedroom, he had glared coldly at Lin with eyes that basically screamed _'Don't tell this to anyone!_ '. The tall man also wondered whether the boy would ever get proper manners, but he had admit that it's something he had to give up on.

 

Lin sighed.

 

"Is there something the matter, Lin-san?" Yasuhara asked, who was about to take a sip from his own coffee.

 

"No, there isn't," he replied with a shake of the head, even though he would have liked to exhaust the story to Yasuhara. Surely he would have been delighted and Lin could leave up the thinking to the other boy. The scene was just truly bizarre to digest.

 

The boy smiled at him.

 

"If you're hungry you're welcome to eat breakfast with us later on."

 

Yasuhara went on the explain what they had planned for the day. It seemed he had discussed this with the others when Lin was taking a rest early in the evening.

 

"Thank you," the man replied.

 

Yasuhara smiled at Lin, but he himself didn't know how to overcome another little problem. Even if he had managed to get Shibuya Kazuya to stay here, something direly went wrong. He hoped the boss wouldn't leave, before the problem would ultimately be revealed.

 

(o)~(o)

 

08:25

 

The boy looked at how she opened her eyes. He had been watching her sleep in her bed.

 

"...Gene," she softly said.

 

Gene was smiling, but it was a sad smile. He gently whisked the bangs away from her eyes. The expression he made when he did that was nearly unreadable, but soon his eyes turned serious.

 

"Mai, stay where you are. Don't be alone. It's not safe."

 

It was all murky around him. She wondered whether he was responsible for this.

 

"What's going on?"

 

The impenetrable darkness overtook her entire vision. Gene was gone, but his voice was still there.

 

"Calm down," he said when she panicked a little, "There's somebody else who is able to travel in this plane. He is very close... just don't show yourself for now."

 

"Is he dangerous?"

 

"I don't know yet."

 

There was a sprinkle of uncertainty in his voice.

 

"Just be careful, okay."

 

"Yes."

 

She nodded and closed her eyes.

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

08:31

 

It was around half past eight when Ayako pulled at her hair to wake her up, as they would leave for breakfast within an hour. They would also have some free time to themselves at the swimming pool. According to the red head, it was supposed to be a typical sunshine after rain day, and definitely one meant for fun and no drama. It wasn't until she was brushing her teeth in the bathroom when she remembered her dream. Insecurity slipped in her mind when she kept thinking about the other boy.

 

Gene.

 

She was slowly recalling what he had said to her. Another person in the astral plane. Danger. Darkness.

 

"Mai! You ready for some breakfast?"

 

It was Takigawa who had called her from the hallway.

 

"I'm coming!" She ran out of the bathroom and down the stairs.

 

"Great! Let's eat. I'm starving!"

 

When they had gathered in the dining hall at the main building, she didn't see Naru at all.

 

"Where is the boss?" Mai asked her bespectacled friend.

 

"Lin-san said the boss is staying in bed just a little longer," Yasuhara answered.

 

"He slept in?" the girl nearly yelled, and looked at Lin, before staring at the miko, "I wanted to do the same!"

 

"Didn't you sleep too much already?" Ayako said with a frown.

 

Takigawa said, "Well, I think Naru has been reading the whole night. Let's cut him some slack this time. That little bookworm!"

 

Lin paled a little, but noticed that Mai only awkwardly smiled when the others laughed at the monk's assumption.

 

The girl thought back to what Naru had said to her earlier that morning. For some reason he had insisted her to hide whatever happened that night and the nature of their current relationship. They would know about it eventually, but considering they spent their first night alone together somewhere in the woods it was wiser to keep in under wraps. That wasn't something either would want to reveal to the others. 

 

Of course, Naru wanted to avoid unwanted attention to himself as well for an unspecified amount of time. Lin would find out and communicate the details to his mentor Madoka, who would inform Naru's parents. Mai had said that she didn't mind if the others knew about it, but he thought she was having it easy. The apparent fanclub he had overseas would beg him to show what kind of woman he hooked up with.

 

At first, Mai didn't know whether to conform to his wishes or feel insulted, so it ended up in yet another one of their skirmishes. He just had to make it difficult for her! She didn't like keeping secrets from anyone, and most certainly not about these kind of things. Some things would never change, like Naru's private tendencies. She had wondered out loud whether he was going to ditch her if it eventually came out without his permission, but Naru said he was being serious. The way he had said it got her silent.

 

Mai made a few observations in the restaurant. There were two people in the open kitchen, an old lady and a man. In the restaurant there was a couple who seemed to be around Lin's age. Then there were a group of five middle-aged men and one young lady who appeared to be of Ayako's age. Huddled in a corner was a young man whom she couldn't see clearly from where she was sitting, and yet another lonesome man who just took place at one of the tables.

 

Suddenly, the person next to her ducked his head under the table. They frowned at their table-mate.

 

"Bou-san?" Mai said.

 

Takigawa's face had turned sullen and his finger pointed to the entrance of the room. Two austere bald men in Buddhist monk robes silently walked to a table nearby.

 

"Ah crap, this is bad. I gotta get out of here," he said under his breath, "He may recognize me!"

 

They watched Takigawa looking around, finding Ayako's ladies' hat sitting on her purse and apparently deciding it was the perfect thing to hide behind.

 

"Excuse me."

 

"Hey, what are you doing?" the miko angrily said when he took the hat.

 

"Borrowing this, I'll give it back later," he said as he took sunglasses out of his shirt's pocket and settled it on his nose. 

 

"Hey, I didn't give you permission to do that!" Ayako said angrily, but she was ignored.

 

"Yeah yeah, I'm going now. See you guys at the swimming pool!"

 

The monk bit into a sandwich and fled towards the glass doors. The four others were stunned as they watched him go. Once outside, Takigawa quickly manoeuvred off the outdoor café, jumped over a hedge before turning into a corner where he unluckily bumped into someone. Apples flew in the air as he managed to keep his balance. The monk found a young lady with long black hair sitting on the pavement. She was obviously irritated.

 

"Ah.. I'm so sorry about that! Are you okay?" he said as he helped her stand.

 

"That took me by surprise..."

 

Her voice sounded slightly annoyed, but when she saw his face, her expressions slowly softened up. If Takigawa had to be completely honest, he found her not to be very good looking.

 

"It's fine."

 

The lady quickly looked down at the apples all around them.

 

"Oh my..."

 

He knelt down.

 

"Oh I'll help picking these up."

 

She did the same.

 

"No, no, it's all right. You are a guest after all."

 

"No, it was my fault for not watching out where I was going, heh," Takigawa said. Suddenly he realized that his sandwich had dirtied his t-shirt and had fallen to the pavement. He picked the leftover up and threw it in a nearby trash can.

 

"Did you arrive yesterday?" The young woman asked when they finished picking up all of the apples.

 

"Yeah, I did."

 

"So you're from the SPR? You were the only ones to come in yesterday."

 

Takigawa had to stop for a moment to think. They were booked under the company's initials?

 

"Well yeah, that's true, I suppose."

 

"Hmm," she smiled, but she didn't look any better. "My name is Maka Kaori. You may usually find me in the restaurant. I work in the kitchen and as a waitress."

 

"Ah, pleased to meet you. I'm Takigawa Houshou. I work as a... pro bassist."

 

He had to refrain from mentioning his side job as a monk. Otherwise they would link him to the other two. It helped that she didn't mention what SPR stood for, so he could easily avoid any problematic questions. Kaori seemed a bit stunned at his answer, but didn't ask whatever the SPR meant. He wondered if she did know. Fortunately, Kaori didn't dwell on it and went back to the restaurant.

 

"See you at lunch time. I hope you'll have a nice stay at our resort.."

 

"Ah thanks."

 

Takigawa noticed the wink of an eye and involuntarily smiled at her. Then he realized how he was still wearing that pink hat of the miko on his head and felt a wave of embarrassment flooding over him,

 

Several minutes later he arrived at the self proclaimed 'men's bungalow' where he stayed with the male members of the Shibuya Psychic Research. It was oddly quiet.

 

"Naru-chan?" he said when he got in.

 

Nobody answered and he wondered whether the boss was still sleeping. He walked into the living room by turning around the corner, and bumped into something.

 

The roles had been reversed. Takigawa fell over and saw Naru's figure looming over him. The boy folded his arms

 

"Ugh, not again..." he said as he rubbed his behind.

 

"Watch where you're going," Naru said with his eyes narrowed.

 

The monk ignored the lack of a good mood that he could detect, rose on his feet and sighed.

 

"Sorry about that. Sheesh, I bumped into some waitress just a minute ago too..." he said, and almost expected the boy to talk him down, but there didn't seem to be an interest in whatever he had said.

 

He simply asked the monk, "Where is everyone?"

 

"Having breakfast, but I guess they're almost finished up, so probably most are hanging out at the swimming pool to take a dive," he said.

 

"I see."

 

Takigawa was a little surprised that Naru was wearing something other than the usual outfit. Still black, but with a three quarter sized trousers and a t-shirt.

 

"So, you're going to swim, Naru?" he invited casually.

 

Naru only sighed. Okay, the monk thought, probably not.

 

He continued, "I'd love to go swim, but I just stumbled upon some of my dad's acquaintances."

 

The boy looked up at him and frowned. Apparently he had nothing to do but listen to Takigawa.

 

"Um, yeah, monks from the Godaiji temple in Matsushima in the Miyagi prefecture, you know? That monk is pretty famous... his name was Iimura something."

 

"But he's not famous enough to know his full name?" Naru finally said.

 

"Let's just say I know people who are more famous..." Takigawa added with a smile, and was rewarded with a little smirk from the other. "Anyway, I'm going to get changed. I got my t-shirt ruined with a sandwich. You'll find me somewhere near the pool if you need me."

 

The boy left through the front door and walked around for a while. In one path he passed by the medicine seller, who was observing him closely, but he kept walking.

 

"If I'm not mistaken," the man said out of the blue, "I have seen you elsewhere."

 

He instantly stopped walking.

 

"I haven't seen you at all," Naru responded, even though it wasn't the correct answer, "At least, not before I came to this resort."

 

The medicine seller rested his gaze into the direction of the young man, then closed his eyes.

 

He came to the following conclusion, "Then. I must have mistaken you for someone else."

 

Thereafter Naru left him there without saying another word.

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

10:30

 

In the sunny outdoor café of the Motohashi hotel's restaurant two young ladies were sitting next to each other by a table. From the café the two had a sight on the swimming pool. A group of guests had gathered there, but they were too far away to hear their conversations. Both were were peeling freshly plucked apples and their usual habit was to gossip about the guests out of boredom. 

 

Motohashi Rekiyo was the twenty year old daughter of the resort owner, Motohashi Keiichi. Together with her aunt and uncle, who were his siblings, she helped along during the summer and winter seasons. The other young lady was Maka Kaori, who was twenty-four years old, who worked in the kitchen staff here along with her parents. The family was a nearby city and were long time friends of the resort owner. The daughters ended up being good friends and colleagues as well. To amuse themselves the young women were always ready to talk about the latest dirt on their guests.

 

“I just met a cute guy,” Kaori said with a smile, but was countered with Rekiyo's big grin.

 

“Well, I just met two cute guys~!”

 

She frowned.

 

“Two? You don't mean those two brothers?”

 

Kaori was referring to the Sakuma family with two sons, who seemed to be around the same age. They appeared to be a family with a high income and flaunted their status with the type of clothes they wore or the food they ate. For the past few days Kaori and Rekiyo had been gossiping about them.

 

“No no no, they are absolutely nothing compared to the two I've seen!”

 

“Tell me about them,” the elder of the two said.

 

“No you begin,” the other insisted.

 

Kaori sighed.

 

“Well. We bumped into each other over at that corner there. He may be a little older than me and he's a pro-bassist. Takigawa-san seemed like a pretty funny guy.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Well, he's a fairly tall man with light hair,” she said. "...and he was wearing that cute ladies' hat, but it was pink, so...”

 

Rekiyo gave her a consoling pat on the back.

 

“Ehhh, you finally meet a cute guy and-”

 

She sighed, “I know... You're next, Kiyo.”

 

“Oh yeah. This morning I saw a medicine seller near the lake~!”

 

“A medicine seller? How did he get in?” Kaori frowned.

 

“According to my uncle he was outside all day in front of the driveway.. and I guess he felt bad when he was still sitting there during the rain last night.”

 

“Oh..”

 

“His way of talking is a bit strange, but his voice is so dreamy and he looks so hot-!” She swooned away. 

 

“And how about the other?”

 

“About that...” Rekiyo sighed and scowled, “The second one was handsome too, that's for sure, and I think he's got a girlfriend as well... but he absolutely seems to dislike me so far.”

 

“How can you be so sure?” Kaori asked, a little confused.

 

“No idea. Yesterday he looked at me as if I was a complete idiot. Today he almost got me shaking in fear when I caught him red handed with his girlfriend... um. They looked as if they just came back from mud bathing,” Rekiyo said.

 

The other girl frowned.

 

“I tell you that guy's got some serious personality issues.”

 

“How irritating. He's from the SPR... which you told me about, right?”

 

“Yeah, the... Shibuya Psychic Research or something?” Rekiyo sighed again, “I am going to be their tour guide in the forest today.”

 

“Psychic Research? That Takigawa-san said he was from the SPR, but he's a professional bassist.”

 

“Huuh?! That doesn't make any sense!”

 

“..Yeah, I thought so too... I mean, what's a bassist doing with a bunch of psychics?" Kaori said and then cocked her head to the side. "Hey wait a minute, could it be the name of a band?” 

 

Rekiyo's jaw dropped.

 

“Hèeh?! That can't be! Are you sure he said that!”

 

“Do you think I'm lying?!”

 

The door suddenly opened and a woman came out. Her face hardened when she saw the girls squabbling about something.

 

"What are the two of you doing? We're about to start making apple pies."

 

The girls made apologetic faces.

 

"I'm sorry, we're almost done," Rekiyo said.

 

Nearly a quarter to eleven, the women finished up with the preparation for the apple pies for the upcoming lunch, and it was time for them to rest. Rekiyo remained at the outdoor café and enjoyed some leftover pieces, while Kaori did away with the remaining apples and put them back in a white plastic bag. The applies were plucked from a tree near the forest and tasted very good.

 

Kaori walked through the entranceway to the kitchen and asked her mother for the key to the stockroom. She returned to the entranceway and opened another door, which lead to a stairway that lead to the stockroom. The stockroom was located in the basement of the main building. She turned the key into the hole and entered the dark room. Unfortunately it wasn't very well lit, so she never liked coming here when it was night.

 

As her eyes became familiar with the darkness, with some help of the little light lingering from the small window in the back, she hung the bag filled with apples near the fridges. A cool breeze surprised her, but Kaori didn't pay heed to it and walked out of the room again. When the young woman was about to close the door, she heard muffled sounds from inside of the stockroom.

 

She assumed that the bag with apples had fallen by accident, and swung the door open again.

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

10:40

 

Takigawa returned to his friends at the swimming pool and immediately found Ayako's fiery eyes on him. However, she was wearing a red bikini and consequently he had much trouble to tear his own eyes away from where he shouldn't look at. Damn, she sure was brimming with confidence about her body image.

 

"Hey, old guy, give me back my hat. I can't take a nap with all that sunlight," she said, poking a finger into his chest.

 

"No way! Not until those monks are leaving," he joked, and slapped her hand away.

 

"No, give it back!"

 

Yasuhara watched the miko and the monk bicker yet again. He had swum a couple of rounds in the pool and now was taking a rest at the edge with his feet dipped in the water. The boy smiled at the scene, but his eyes went back to the other side of the pool. Mai was breast-crawling to the opposite side with confidence and was a surprisingly good swimmer.

 

Suddenly a black figure appeared at the end of the pool.

 

"Oh look at that," Yasuhara said, and pushed his glasses up his nose.

 

The two stopped arguing to see what had happened.

 

"Oh that's where he went to..."

 

Takigawa was surprised to see Naru standing there. The boy appeared to be waiting at the edge. Mai arrived exactly in front of him and looked up at what caused the shadows in the water.

 

"Naru?!"

 

"Stop wasting time and don't come late at the lunch break," he icily said and examined her as if she came from another planet. Her brown hair was dripping with water and seemed much more darker than usual. Even her eyes appeared to be bigger than they normally looked like.

 

Mai had enough of all his complaints and climbed out of the pool to meet him face to face. She only wanted him to stop looking down at her, especially considering the latest developments.

 

"Well, we're supposed to have this so-called vacation, so why don't you just come and swi-"

 

She shivered at the cold air surrounding her and looked down for a moment. Mai's face went red at showing that much skin in front of her.

 

"Swim?" he finished the sentence, but she was too busy panicking. His eyes examined her from head to toe within a blink of an eye. She was wearing a green halter and a matching skirt. "I don't feel like doing that."

 

"Yes, swim," Mai looked at him again. "I was wondering if there are any things you feel like doing except for work, work and work!"

 

She grabbed his arm before Naru managed to walk away from her, but he grinned and pushed her back into the water. When Mai returned back to the surface, she yelled at him so the others could hear what she was telling the boss.

 

"I bet you can't swim!"

 

She had luck, because from the looks of it she had caught his attention.

 

"You lost that bet," he replied.

 

"Hey hey Naru-chan, how about betting on whether Mai can last longer underwater than you?" Takigawa had arrived on the same spot with a big grin on his face. "Don't give up before you try."

 

Naru really didn't feel like doing that, but... something the back of his mind jumped with the possibilities and then... snapped.

 

Mai and Takigawa were completely stunned when he undid himself from the sandals, plunged into the pool, and almost directly disappeared under the water. The girl breathed in some air before following him. 

 

It wasn't hard to find the black blob which sunk to the bottom of the nearly 4 meters deep swimming pool. With his pale, bare feet he touched the floor and simply remained there as if everything around him was air instead of the cold water. Mai slightly wondered if he wasn't affected by the cold temperature, while trying to keep her eyes open as she was beholding the lone figure underwater. Her mind arrived into a true reverie; a black clad Naru who was watching the water surface. He was so beautiful like that and she almost started to forget the world above her; they were alone again. She wished they could remain like that forever.

 

Why in the world was he doing this to her?

 

His glance went to Mai, and she blinked with her eyes. Not much later he stood in front of her and leaned down. There was a smirk on his face.

 

She almost died from shock.

 

Takigawa counted thirty seconds, ten, and five seconds later a brown spot underwater came closer to the surface. A fiery red Mai appeared and took a breath of precious air.

 

"Oh no," he said, disappointed that he lost the bet. Naru returned a few seconds later and climbed out of the pool.

 

Mai was currently directing her anger at Naru in her mind as she coughed up some water. She lifted herself quickly out of the pool and lamented the fact that she couldn't even claim that he didn't play fair! When Takigawa threw her a towel, they were all startled by the loud screams of a woman that came from the vicinity of the restaurant.

 

(o)~(o)

 

_Somewhere within the darkness in the empty space of her head and body voices could be heard._

 

_"I'm hungry," the woman said._

 

_"I want to eat," a young man said,_

 

_"I'm starving," came from within the depths of the woman._

 

_Until the time came when she would fulfil their needs, the cries would echo over and over again._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reincarnated Mononoke characters in this chapter.
> 
> Maka Kaori – "Ruri-hime" (Nue)


	4. Chapter 4

 

_Day 2: Monday, 3rd of July, 2000._

 

10:52

 

The wails and screams sent chills down their spine.

 

As fast as they could, Takigawa, Naru and Mai rushed down to the outdoor café. The first one still wore the pink ladies' hat, the second was soaking wet in his clothes and the last one was shivering in the cold air wearing only a bikini. Rekiyo and an older woman were comforting Kaori, the long haired girl.

 

"Kaori!" the old lady begged, "Surely you must have imagined it!"

 

"No, no mother! I have certainly seen something down there!" The girl said.

 

Takigawa was the first one to arrive.

 

"We heard someone scream. What happened?" he asked the three women.

 

Rekiyo looked at him and hugged her friend, who could barely say a word.

 

"She saw something in the stockroom. A ghost?"

 

The older lady scoffed a little.

 

"That's nonsense. I checked the stockroom, but there wasn't anything there."

 

Kaori finally spoke.

 

"I.. I'm never... going in there any more"

 

"Don't be ridiculous!"

 

"Where is the stockroom?" Naru asked.

 

Rekiyo pointed at the open door to the entranceway. Her eyes seemed a little frightened.

 

"I-I'll take you there. There's a door opening in there with a staircase that leads to the stockroom."

 

They left Kaori in the care of the older woman and followed the girl. The door was open. It was a round staircase in a dark space. The only source of light was dimmed. Mai sighed inwardly. This certainly wasn't a very pleasant place to be in. Rekiyo stood there and waited for the men to go first.

 

"After you..." she said and gave a worn smile.

 

Without any complaint, the two men went first with the girls closely following after them. Mai almost jumped out of her skin when Rekiyo grabbed her arm.

 

"Sorry, it's a scary room," she said with an apologetic face. "I never like coming here."

 

Mai wryly smiled at her. "I understand."

 

Takigawa was at the door and looked at Naru who nodded.

 

The monk swung the door open and cautiously went inside. The keys chaotically produced noise against the metal lock. He found a dark room that was only lit by a small window opening at the back. It barely gave any light, as the grass in front of it blocked sunlight. In any case, it was too small of an opening for the so-called intruder to be a human. The other three waited by the door opening.

 

"Um... Is there something there?" Rekiyo asked the man.

 

"Well, whatever has been here must be gone now," Takigawa stated with a frown, and looked back at Mai who shook her head.

 

Rekiyo sighed of relief.

 

"I see, maybe it was just a cat or something..."

 

A cold voice cut through the air.

 

"Most likely your friend needs to have her eyes checked. People can see a lot of strange things in the dark."

 

Rekiyo didn't look very pleased with that answer and was about to make a remark, but the girl next to her was quicker.

 

"Naru, what if she did see something? You can't dismiss it just like that!" Mai said angrily.

 

The young man stared at her and sighed.

 

"What happened to her?" he asked Rekiyo. The girl was looking for the switch on the side with a hand, and found it without looking. The room illuminated slowly with the help of a lone light bulb. Rekiyo made a mental note to do something about the lightening one day.

 

"...she was here, to drop off the apples."

 

"Apples?" Takigawa said, "Were they by any chance in this plastic bag?"

 

She widened her eyes when the man picked up a sturdy white plastic bag from the floor.

 

"Yeah, why do you know? What is it doing on the floor?"

 

"I saw your friend carrying it this morning," Takigawa explained, "How many apples were in there? Quite a lot of it right?"

 

Rekiyo counted on her fingers. "Yes, we used six for the apple pies, three were for personal use and there were about seven leftovers..."

 

"...and now they're all gone," Takigawa said, searching the floor, "What happened after she put the bag here?"

 

"She left the room, closed the door... and heard some noise from inside," Rekiyo said, "After she opened the door again, she saw... it."

 

"It?" Mai repeated.

 

"A strange and dark figure... The figure... of a woman with the apples," she said, "... that woman disappeared immediately. That's when I heard Kaori scream and saw her running out to the outdoor café."

 

"I see," Naru said.

 

"Na-Naru, let's go outside sh-shall we? Aren't you cold?" His employee suddenly said with cackling teeth.

 

He stared at her. Now that she mentioned it, he did feel cold... not to mention tired and wet.

 

Naru reached to his forehead when he felt a sudden sharp pain.

 

"Yeah, Naru-bou... I don't think we'll actually find something of worth here," the monk added, "Naru-bou?"

 

They all looked at him.

 

"Are you all right?" Mai asked.

 

Naru quickly recovered himself. "It's nothing... Let's go back."

 

Rekiyo nodded.

 

"Yeah, it's cold, dark and creepy. Not a good place to stand around and chat."

 

They returned to the hallway and found out that Kaori had already disappeared into the kitchen to prepare for the upcoming lunch. Apparently the staff decided to treat the incident as a simple theft by an animal as to not start up any strange rumours of an abnormal thief. Mai found it strange that they would make Kaori work so quickly after having experienced something like that. Rekiyo also disapproved, but said that she had no say in the matter when it came to the kitchen staff.

 

Eventually the members of the SPR and its associates gathered around a table somewhere in the corner of the restaurant. Lin was staring slightly baffled at the wet Naru, while the monk explained to the others what had happened. The Chinese man wondered whether the boy had lost his sanity after being bored to death. No, it couldn't be, he decided, this wasn't like Naru at all. Hopefully it would end right here with a mystery being presented right under their noses. He knew from Yasuhara and to some extent Naru, that something was going on in this place, but it wasn't made completely clear what it was. Could this theft be a hint? The staff pretended as if it wasn't a big deal, but the girl who had seen the thief seemed terribly nervous and scared.

 

"As a consequence of this happening I will inform you of the reason of our coming later in the evening," Yasuhara said, after Takigawa finished his story. "We will gather at the shelter near the lake at exactly twelve o'clock. Motohashi-san shall guide us from there to the so-called 'Forbidden Cave'. Be punctual, understood?"

 

They all nodded and then resumed eating their lunches. About fifteen minutes later only the two women were in the restaurant as all men had left.

 

"Why did Bou-san have to leave? I can understand that Yasuhara-san is up to something, but him..." Mai said.

 

Ayako grinned. 

 

"Well, perhaps something special is going on!"

 

"Eh? What could it be?" Mai stared at her with wide eyes.

 

The miko was slightly surprised, but it confirmed that Mai had completely forgotten about it. Typical, she thought, but this should work in their favour.

 

"I wonder about that," she replied, and then changed the subject, "Hey don't you think this smells like yet another case? It looks like our holiday will be blown into smithereens very soon."

 

Mai sighed with disappointment.

 

"Yeah, seems it will be."

 

"That boy was right. This is the perfect holiday destination for annoying ghost hunters who don't have anything to do. Hah!" Ayako slapped the girl on the back.

 

Mai giggled. Yes, it was completely perfect so far...

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

11:50

 

After the two left, the restaurant became filled with a cacophony of talk and laughter. Kaori hid herself somewhere in the kitchen, because she was afraid of hearing the criticisms of the guests and her colleagues. She kept her hands on her ears to dissipate the conversations as much as possible. Her mother watched her and shook her head at the girl in disappointment.

 

"Ghost! A ghost! Do you believe it? Tamako-chan!"

 

A loud man's voice roared with laughed and his hand slapped the table repeatedly to reinforce his amusement. Three other man laughed along, but the young woman at their table tried to calm them down. She was named Tamako.

 

"Sensei, please..." she said, "Don't you think that's enough?"

 

The man ignored her.

 

"What do you think? Is it a truth or a lie, or something in between?"

 

She sharply looked at him.

 

"Jinguji-sensei, I don't want to talk about that. You're embarrassing her! You're embarrassing all of us!"

 

"Now now, Tamako-chan..."

 

"Could you stop calling me that way!" she said and straightened herself. "What happened to your professionalism?! This is so unlike you."

 

One of the other men laughed at her.

 

"Missy, we're no businessmen here. Just enjoy yourself."

 

Tamako didn't back down and walked away from the table.

 

"Calling people ridiculous is not something I enjoy!"

 

The sound of a pair of high-heeled shoes disappeared in the direction of the outdoor café, and was overwhelmed by the laughter of the men.

 

(o)~(o)

 

11:57

 

Naru placed a hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. He was trying to think, but he felt lethargic and his concentration was falling away. It was the exact same feeling he had after staying up all night. They had gathered at the shelter near the lake and the medicine seller happened to be keeping shop there. Yasuhara was currently inspecting the wares and seemed rather interested in buying something for his parents.

 

"Are you.. all right?" the medicine seller asked slowly, watching the two men across him.

 

Lin watched the boy attentively.

 

"If you don't feel up to it, we can always postpone this until later."

 

Naru had noticed that Lin had been watching him like that for quite a while. He couldn't really place what it was. Anger? No, worry? Naru had no idea what caused the man to be like that. Think. Just think. He had to do this in order to succeed, whether there was something going on at this place or not. He wouldn't fail and didn't want to lag behind, because of such a trivial thing. So he answered, "Out of the question. Who are here already?"

 

Lin audibly sighed.

 

"We are complete. Matsuzaki-san and Taniyama-san have just arrived," Yasuhara's distant voice said.

 

His mind slipped away.

 

"Naru?"

 

He wasn't sure whether Lin or Yasuhara said that.

 

"If I were you, I would change your clothes."

 

Wait, who said that? Change clothes. Why? Naru felt his vision twist from colour into grey, from sharpness to grain and the closing of his eyelids that turned everything into darkness. He grabbed the moist edge of his shirt. So that's why...

 

A pain flashed through his head and all of a sudden he couldn't recall what he had been thinking about.

 

Think.

 

His eyes stared at a scene with a smoky texture.

 

Naru rose from the bench, and walked slowly out of the shelter. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Voices attempted to reach him. He felt something warm on his shoulder. Naru didn't recall anyone having a smoke or whether it was going to be foggy. 

 

No, the weather report said it would be sunny after the rain. Suddenly all had vanished under the sun. The light was too strong and merciless, he finally staggered and hit the ground.

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

16:50 (04:50 PM)

 

After they returned from the trip to the cave, Mai was left to her own devices as the others left to do their own tasks. Ayako wanted to get a shower before going to dinner, while Takigawa and Yasuhara went to inform Lin and Naru. The latter had fainted to the ground for some unknown reason, which shocked everyone quite badly. Surely they had detected some signs of Naru's lapses during the day, but they could only blame it on a lack of sleep or the heat of the sun. The Chinese man offered to stay behind with the boy and take him back to the bungalow.

 

The others went on a pretty much pointless adventure to the cave, as Naru would have said if he had come along. There was nothing special to be found about the cave, which could hardly be called one. It seemed to be merely a hollowed space in the mountain, and was scrawled with obnoxious writings of visiting romantic couples. However Mai did like the trip enough and she managed to gain another friend from it. Their guide Rekiyo was like a ray of sunshine and got her in good spirits after worrying over Naru's sudden collapse. The girl turned out to be the only daughter of the resort owner.

 

They were hanging around somewhere in the forest and mostly talked about Tokyo and life there. Rekiyo was showing her a pond with frog eggs. The pond looked very pretty and Mai thought was amusing to spot the frogs, because she didn't see them often.

 

"Have you cheered up, Mai-san?" Rekiyo said.

 

Mai looked at her.

 

"Eh? Yeah, I guess."

 

"Well, you looked really worried about your boyfriend back there~" she said teasingly. 

 

Mai went white.

 

"Uh n-no. He's not- he's my boss. I mean yes!" she blurted out. That didn't make any sense whatsoever, but it did describe her state of mind when it came to him.

 

"Boss?" Rekiyo slyly grinned, and poked her in the ribs. "You're not the first couple who went to that abandoned hut to, well, spend the night away from prying eyes."

 

Mai went pale when she said that.

 

"Y-you saw us?"

 

"Well, when I went to the shelter this morning, I saw you two walking out of the forest. I don't think you saw me, but your boyfrie- I mean, 'boss' did see me."

 

Mai looked away.

 

"Ah, okay, just don't tell anyone about it," she said and stuttered, "It's a se-secret."

 

The two girls remained silent, and Mai felt herself turning red. Not just the medicine seller, but Rekiyo saw them.

 

"So..." the other girl began with a suggestive voice, "How was he? Any good? You can tell Kiyo-neesan all the little details."

 

"Eh?"

 

"He wasn't?"

 

It took a few moments to realize what the girl meant, and then a few seconds for her face to turn red.

 

"Was it your first time?" Rekiyo asked with a straight face.

 

Mai started sputtering incoherently.

 

"I-we-him no we didn't well actually-"

 

She put her hands in front her mouth when Rekiyo laughed out loud.

 

"Hey hey, I was just joking. No need to answer seriously."

 

Mai breathed a sigh of relief and dropped her hands.

 

"Ahaha, thanks. I guess?"

 

"Shouldn't you go see him?" she asked.

 

"I was thinking of seeing the medicine seller first," Mai said, "Maybe I can buy something for Naru."

 

"Good idea, let's go there then!"

 

They arrived at the shelter, Rekiyo greeted the medicine seller, but to her surprise she wasn't even spared a glance or a bow. His full attention was on someone else. The medicine seller had found himself another potential customer, which was a young man in his twenties. He had long black, curly sloppy hair and wore a simple grey t-shirt with blue pants. Only when he turned his head to look at them, they noticed how big his eyes were.

 

"Good afternoon," Mai said, and glanced over the wares with much curiosity.

 

Rekiyo frowned at the unknown man.

 

"I'm sorry, but who might you be? I don't think I've seen you checking in?"

 

"Sumori. Sumori Horoyuki. I've been staying here for a while."

 

His voice was quiet, puzzling and slightly high-pitched for a man of his age. Sumori turned his attention back to the medicine seller's wares once again. Rekiyo said nothing and mentally made a note to check with her uncle.

 

"Interesting, but I don't need them," he commented, "May I see what else you are keeping in that chest?"

 

"Ah," the medicine seller closed the bottom drawer, which previously contained all the medicines, so he opened the one above it.

 

It was full of rather elaborate scales.

 

"What is that?" Mai asked.

 

"A child's toy," he replied and closed the drawer gain, and opened the one above it.

 

They all stared at its content, which was full of ukiyo-e... porn. The spectators were either speechless or in shock, and the man didn't choose to say anything about it.

 

"And the top?" Sumori said.

 

The medicine seller looked at the one who asked this with wary eyes.

 

"You want to see...?"

 

"Yes, I do."

 

He sighed and opened it, allowing their eyes to discover a red box inside of it. The medicine seller didn't touch it.

 

"Kusuriuri-san, open it," the young man demanded.

 

Rekiyo had remained quiet up till then, but now she had enough. She didn't like the way where the conversation was going. Mai looked rather uneasy as well.

 

"Oi, Sumori-san? That's not a very polite thing to say."

 

Sumori didn't even look at her and neither did the medicine seller.

 

"Yes yes, Sumori- _dono_."

 

The young man flinched and both girls looked a little shocked at the sudden sarcasm. Mai wondered if the medicine seller was mocking Sumori for acting like a lord in his country. They didn't dare to interrupt the exchange, because by then both men had given the girls the creeps. The medicine seller opened the box.

 

The content was way more than they could have imagined.

 

"A katana?" Rekiyo said baffled.

 

"Why are you carrying it?" Mai asked.

 

He glanced at her with a neutral expression with his eyes slightly narrowed.

 

"To kill."

 

The girls simultaneously gulped, and slowly backed away. Surely they hadn't misheard it.

 

"To kill?" Rekiyo repeated with a tiny voice.

 

"It's used for killing," the medicine seller said, "for use against _mononoke_ , by slicing them."

 

"Mononoke?" Mai didn't know what it was, but for some reason the word brought shivers to her spine.

 

"May I?" Sumori said as he reached for the sword.

 

"Hey! That's dangerous!" Rekiyo shouted.

 

Unfortunately he already had it by that time and tried to get the katana out of its sheath. Well, he tried to.

 

"It won't open," he said after a while.

 

The girls sighed of relief.

 

"Hm, what use is there to a katana if it won't open," he pondered.

 

"It means you don't need to use it!" Rekiyo said rolling her eyes.

 

The medicine seller spoke again, "To unsheathe it, one would need the mononoke's form, truth and reason."

 

The three stared at him. Form, truth... reason?

 

Sumori sighed.

 

"What a pity. I had been hoping to see a real sword. It was a child's toy after all."

 

He handed the item back to the owner.

 

"I'm a mere medicine seller, after all," he said and Sumori left.

 

The girls collapsed on the bench on the opposite side of the medicine seller.

 

"That was scary," Mai said.

 

"Yeah, I seriously don't like this nosy guy. Sorry Mai-san, sometimes we get strange guests like him."

 

"Hm, don't worry about it," Mai said and looked at the medicine seller, "Kusuriuri-san, do you really use that katana?"

 

He nodded.

 

"You're joking right?" Rekiyo said.

 

"As I said, I hunt mononoke."

 

"...and what's a mononoke?" Mai asked.

 

"Something that you would call... demons."

 

"So you're a mononoke hunter?" Mai said, "Hm, it's not much different from my job. Well, actually my boss is a ghost hunter."

 

"Hoòh, a ghost hunter?"

 

"Yep," Mai said, but doubted she was being taken seriously. She didn't know what to think about the killing of mononoke business either.

 

"Oh, speaking of your boss~"

 

Rekiyo started to grin madly and whispered mischievously into the medicine seller ears.

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

17:01 (05:01 PM)

 

A dizzy feeling made him turn around in his bed and he felt like he could stay in there forever. The warmth was lovely, but his body slowly regenerated its vigour. He opened his eyes and was negatively surprised to see that the light that had sneaked through the window, wasn't of a morning sun, but of a slowly setting sun. His eyes snapped wide open and he groaned when he checked the clock on the wall.

 

He mentally chided himself for collapsing.

 

Lin had left two of his shiki with Naru ever since the incident, so when one returned to him, he went to the room and opened the door. Naru was sitting up in his bed and stared at the man.

 

"Are you okay now?"

 

"Somewhat."

 

"Regarding the cave... Takigawa informed me that we haven't missed out on anything."

 

Naru frowned.

 

"Really."

 

"I took you back, but Takigawa-san and the others have been there. They checked everything through, but didn't notice anything unusual," he said and looked at his watch, "We'll have dinner in a couple of hours, so I suggest to take some more sleep."

 

Naru made a noise of affirmation.

 

Lin paused for a while, before he left.

 

"I would be pleased if you would quit the nightly outings, as you can see they're not good for your health."

 

The boy watched him leave and began to stare at the empty doorway. Nightly outings? Did he hear that right? He went to lie down again, because he was still tired. Something was wrong, he realized, and even Lin noticed it. The dizziness slowly went away and he just rested on his bed. Surprisingly enough no headaches came up while he tried to think about what happened earlier that day. However, the lack of pain did not make it any easier to remember the crucial details.

 

A half hour had passed when someone knocked on his door. He looked at the doorway and found Mai standing there.

 

"Can I come in?"

 

"Yeah."

 

She entered his room, closed the door behind her and seated herself on the side of his bed.

 

"Are you okay?"

 

He nodded and went to sit up straight.

 

"You really had us worried back there."

 

Well, obviously, he thought and noted the nervousness in her voice.

 

"Um, Naru?"

 

The girl made tensed movement, went to sit closer to him and her cheeks turned pink.

 

"...what?" he said, somewhat bothered by the sudden awkwardness.

 

"Did you stay awake last night?"

 

He wasn't sure of that so he didn't reply.

 

When he remained quiet, Mai sighed.

 

"Well, 'cause after you told me you were awake when I was sleepwalking.... I thought, you couldn't possibly have been watching me the whole time after we... I mean, before I woke up.... right?"

 

Mai was looking away, but he could very well imagine that she blushing like a tomato. A small hint of surprise was found in his face. He had been with her? After they did what? Sleepwalking?

 

"What did you say?"

 

"N-never mind," Mai said as embarrassment took over, but she pointedly looked back at him, "but really Naru, I think I should never get into mud fights with you again. Now I'm pretty darned sure you assaulted me with mud balls by using your PK."

 

This caused Naru to frown deeply. Either she was hallucinating this fantastic story or it was close to the truth that Lin had been hinting on just earlier. Actually the truth was that he would never do the things she was currently describing.

 

"What are you talking about?" he said innocently.

 

Mai pursed her lips.

 

"You can't fool me, Naru. I don't want you to faint again, just because I provoked you to do stupid things like that. Once is enough, and this time... I was so scared," she said.

 

Some tears trickled down her cheeks.

 

Naru looked in astonishment at the girl. No, he didn't remember any of that at all. He was contemplating to tell her, but she was too caught up in his recent collapse.

 

"Stop that Mai. It's not worth crying over. What a waste of brain fluid," he sharply said. 

 

Mai turned her head.

 

"Hello? I was worried sick! You can't expect me not to feel anything about this."

 

She gestured with her hand to make a point, and he caught an odd smell all of sudden.

 

"Mai... Tell me more about the sleepwalking," he said when he thought when she was getting too emotional for his own liking, so he decided to change the subject.

 

"You mean that dream I had?"

 

She had a dream while she walked in her sleep?

 

"Yes."

 

"Okay, but I don't think I can remember any more details."

 

Mai told him about a man and a woman, a young couple, who seemed to be arguing about something. It was a rather vague dream and seemed to have taken place near that hut. The dream ended when the pair discovered the presence of another person.

 

"...and then I woke up, standing in the muddy water. Then all of sudden we started that mud fight."

 

Mai shrugged.

 

"I see."

 

He tried very hard not to roll his own eyes or make a surprised expression at that statement. It sounded so... out of character. He wondered if it really happened or whether it was part of a very realistic dream. Surely he wouldn't steep down to that level.

 

Naru noticed that Mai was clinging onto something in her hands. It looked like some small paper bag.

 

"Anyway, I just came here to get you for dinner. Everyone told me to keep an eye on you for some reason. Well, not that I mind it. I'll wait for you outside, " Mai said, but before she could leave his side, Naru grabbed her arm.

 

"Na-naru?!"

 

She tumbled backwards and almost landed in his lap. He grabbed her hand that held the paper bag and sniffed at it.

 

"Wha-what are you doing?" Mai squeaked, shuffling uncomfortably on top of him. Naru was too concerned about the contents of the bag to notice Mai sitting on him.

 

"Smelling. Where did you get this?" he said and looked at her.

 

"F-From the medicine seller. Actually he s-saw us this mo-morning, remember? I-I got this free sa-sample, foryouandme, but I'm planning on throwing itawayIswear!"

 

Mai's words tumbled out like that and it seemed like she couldn't get any redder.

 

"What?" Naru had absolutely no idea what she was telling him, and he was too busy finding out what the content of the little bag was. He had never been interested in scents, but this one smelled so good... it made him feel...

 

"Ahh, stop it!"

 

Mai eventually managed to escape his weakening grip and fled to the door.

 

"Okay, now get changed. I'll see you at the restaurant," she said with a blush and left.

 

"Mai," he called out, but she didn't listen.

 

"Oh my god! I need to get rid of this stuff!" She said out loud in the hallway.

 

It didn't take very long for Naru to realize what had been in that package, and it made him very uncomfortable that he subjected himself to a thing like that. He tried not to think much of it, but that stuff was so potent, that he couldn't help wondering if Mai smelled it as well, or even tasted it. After a good and long cold shower and a change of clothes he headed out to the restaurant, ignoring the little smirk of the medicine seller along the away.

 

The dinner turned out to be a surprise birthday party for Mai, who did not seem to have realized it was her birthday at all. Ayako had even arranged a birthday cake to be made by the staff. Yasuhara had Lin and Takigawa help decorating the room. The party was a wild success, but Naru wasn't pleased that the 'case' took second place now. There was definitely something going on, but he knew they couldn't do much as long as the client remained absent. He didn't even send them a representative.

 

During the party Naru tried to stay as much as an observer as possible, and if someone tried to drag him out for a drink or a dance he glared them down. It usually worked. During the dinner he observed Maka Kaori with a Caucasian guest and her baby. Kaori appeared much more at ease with cuddling the baby, while shooting the group of businessmen some ugly glances. The businessmen seemed to make fun of her incident with the stolen apples. The young woman who was part of their group appeared to be less than pleased with her colleagues and had started to talk with Matsuzaki. At the very end of the bar one lonely middle aged man was sitting and drinking away. Also sitting there were Yasuhara, Mai and Motohashi Rekiyo. An unusually bored Lin was sitting next to him and seemed content with folding paper plane after paper plane.

 

Most of the people seemed to be having a good time, but when the alcohol started flowing, Naru decided to go back to the bungalow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reincarnated Mononoke characters in this chapter.
> 
> Jinguji Komura - Jisonji Konari (Nue)
> 
> Sakaguchi Tamako - Tamaki/Ichikawa Setsuko (Bake Neko)
> 
> Sumori Horoyuki - Sasaki Hyouei (Umi Bouzu)


	5. Chapter 5

_Day 2: Monday, 3rd of July, 2000._

 

22:23 (10:23 PM)

 

The surprise birthday party ended after Mai, Lin and Naru went back to their bungalow. Lin wisely decided this after he saw the monk and miko's increase of alcohol consumption, which happened to be one of those times that he wondered why they were called such titles. Yasuhara offered to stay behind to keep a watch on the adults, so Naru and Lin dropped Mai off at her bungalow. Both men were sunken into deep thought and remained silent during the walk back to their own bungalow.

 

Yasuhara decided it was time to lay them off the drinks, when seeing that Takigawa was barely able to hold his liquor and Ayako had been visiting the toilet repeatedly. Moreover, their wallets looked decidedly empty and Yasuhara did not want them to empty his own pockets. As for himself, he was getting tipsy as well, even though he wasn't allow to drink. Technically speaking he was nineteen, but he always got away with his old and wise demeanour. He liked to drink, but he never went overboard like the currently stumbling monk or the miko who could barely walk on her heels.

 

"So I asked Rekiyo-san about it, and they're supposed to be vacating this house."

 

The trio stood in front of a path leading to a bungalow a bit further away from the other ones. It was near the lake, and fairly close to where the girls stayed. The bungalow was devoid of lights, so its inhabitants appeared to be asleep.

 

"Why do you want me to check up on them?" the monk complained, "I don't wanna."

 

"Then you shouldn't have taken up the dare, old man."

 

An obviously drunken Ayako slapped him on his behind.

 

"Eek!" he squealed in a high pitch, "Fine, only for a short moment. I guess I'm curious about why they came here at all."

 

Yasuhara cupped his chin.

 

"There is a temple nearby," he told the monk. "Perhaps they're visiting that one."

 

Takigawa didn't even know there was a temple around.

 

"There is? Why aren't they staying over there..."

 

Yasuhara frowned.

 

“You have a point. Do you have any ide-”

 

They were interrupted by a shout in the distance.

 

"Come on, guys!"

 

Ayako had walked on and waved at the two men.

 

"Oy, wait!" Takigawa yelled and quickly walked to her. 

 

Yasuhara sighed and followed the other two.

 

The trio arrived soundlessly at the bungalow. The monk and miko acted like little kids spying on the big bad adults, and the student joined them in good humour.

 

"Hey, it's all dark in there," Ayako hissed.

 

“Well, that much is obvious,” the monk whispered back.

 

They strained their ears. Faint noises of creaking and weird, weird dialogue.

 

"Hoò, they sure are making odd noises in there," Ayako commented.

 

"Are they chanting or what?" Takigawa frowned.

 

Yasuhara said, "Whatever they're doing it sounds.... interesting."

 

They went to the side where the noises came from, and the moaning and groaning became much clearer sounding. They never once resisted the urge to peek into the bedroom, and once they did, the trio immediately ran away with all their might, not even caring about whether they were noticed.

 

They just ran and ran.

 

"Oh my god!" Ayako exclaimed, running on bare feet and holding her heels in one of her hands, "I think I could just puke right now!"

 

"I'm with you on that!" Takigawa angrily yelled. "Those hypocrites!"

 

Yasuhara followed them closely and was close to getting sick. Seeing an old wrinkled man doing that to a young man was just... No, he just tried to stop thinking about it.

 

The two adults were the first to bump into a man at the end of the path. They fell unceremoniously on the ground and Yasuhara accidentally tripped over them.

 

"Hey watch it!"

 

The three spew out some apologies and looked as if they were bowing, but they were too drunken to noticed any of the man's features. Yasuhara faintly saw that he was bald and quite tall.

 

"Stupid little kids. I was just trying to take a walk in the forest," he complained.

 

They didn't say any more than was needed and resumed their drunken walk back to Ayako's bungalow, to drop off the lady. Mai was there alone and seemed a little peeved with how her female friend looked. Their little adventure had ended and the two men left.

 

"Well, wasn't that fun?" Yasuhara said as they attempted walk back to their own place. He noticed yet another man walking to the forest, though he couldn't see him clearly.

 

"Ya call that fun?" the monk said and hiccuped, "that was awful. God, dunno what to say."

 

"Norio, I meant sneaking into the lord's castle," the young man said, and then whispered in his ear, "So what do you think about following their example with me, since you're an ex-monk after all~"

 

Takigawa freaked out and backed away.

 

"Don't be flirting at the worst possible moment! My heart, think about my heart!"

 

"Of course I think about your heart too, my love~!"

 

(o)~(o)

 

23:45 (23:45 PM)

 

_She heard voices calling in her dream._

 

_They were hungry. A young man and a woman._

 

_They were hungry... starving._

 

_They wouldn't stop eating, until, until..._

 

Then the girl was floating outside her own body, somewhere above the room, above the house she had been sleeping in.

 

_To the lake._

 

_To the lake!_

 

"Mai!"

 

Her eyes shot open at the calling of her name.

 

"Wha- what?!" she said and looked around to see the source of the voice. Mai saw the boy floating up to her. Gene's facial expression looked oddly familiar to Naru at that moment. An expression that told her that he was a little annoyed.

 

"I thought I told you to..." Gene began, but shook his head and sighed instead of finishing his sentence.

 

Mai frowned.

 

"...what?"

 

"Why are you floating up here?" he asked.

 

Mai recalled that she wasn't supposed to show herself to the other being in the astral plane.

 

She apologised, "I... I'm sorry. I don't know. I just woke up and found myself here.”

 

"Don't be... I see that Lin has left two of his shiki at your house. "

 

Gene pointed at the house. Mai turned her head and saw two white floating balls guarding the house.

 

"Lin-san did? How come?"

 

"Perhaps he did manage to sense something..." he said, "Never mind that, look at the forest."

 

This time he pointed at the extremely foggy part of the forest. Near the path... mist had spread over the lake.

 

"But it's not misty at all when I looked there before..."

 

Gene narrowed his eyes.

 

"You're right. This isn't a real fog," he said, "The problem is that I can't get through it at all. As if someone is warding us from what is going on there. I thought it was a normal fog at first, but I just checked and it was impenetrable. It is somewhat clear throughout the day, but I couldn't get in there now, and last night."

 

Last night, Mai thought, that was when...

 

Gene continued when she didn't respond.

 

"It might be a regular thing. Convince Naru to check up on that area. It spreads from the shelter here until that cave. As the situation is now, I can't do it myself."

 

"All right," she said, "how about that other person?"

 

"Ah... wait," he pointed at somewhere near the restaurant, "Look closely, can you recognize him?"

 

The man seemed to be asleep. His skin was dark, his hair was long and white, and his garments were of a golden colour.

 

"No... I don't."

 

Gene blinked.

 

"But you did meet him."

 

"Huh?" Mai raised an eyebrow.

 

"Well, this brings me to another point. Last night you and Naru were in the forest right?" Gene asked. "I saw you at the shelter, but then you disappeared in the fog."

 

Mai froze. This was awkward. She slowly looked up to him and found that he looked a little strange. Gene hadn't smiled at all during the entire conversation and it concerned her.

 

"Yeah, that's true..." she said, and looked down at the forest again. "We didn't see anything unusual though."

 

Mai didn't want to discuss the details with him and Gene didn't seem to want it either.

 

"You did see that man at the shelter when you got out."

 

"...eh?"

 

The girl looked up to him.

 

"The second time was when you all gathered here for the trip, and when you got back from it you visited him again."

 

"Wha... no way. The medicine seller?" Mai said, having connected the dots, "He actually has a very different appearance."

 

Gene seemed genuinely surprised at the statement and rubbed his chin with his finger.

 

"I see. I thought you'd recognize him right away, but..." 

 

“What?”

 

He shook his head. 

 

"Looks like I'm running out of time."

 

“Really?”

 

Gene was just in front of her and didn't seem to be in a hurry or about to fade away.

 

“Are you disappointed?” he said with a smile.

 

Had it been another time, she would have flushed red straight away, but the mood change was so sudden that she had no idea how to reply.

 

“Uh, what do you mean?”

 

“The day is almost over.”

 

Mai could only pop question marks outside her head.

 

Gene continued, “Did you have a good day?”

 

He put his hands in his pockets. His smile was a mix of confidence and anticipation, but not of arrogance. Mai hadn't noticed him floating closer to her.

 

"Yeah, why do you ask...?"

 

He leaned in and kissed her.

 

On the lips.

 

"Happy birthday, Mai."

 

Mai was stunned and turned her head away.

 

"...thank you?" she replied softly.

 

“I wouldn't be a gentleman if I forgot about your birthday.”

 

She couldn't look straight at him any more, but she was sure his smile had widened from the way he was talking to her. 

 

Mai was sure her face had gotten red.

 

...and her heart was beating like crazy.

 

“Mai?”

 

No good. She was losing her control. Mai was floating back down. Gene grabbed her wrist and she panicked from the touch. At the same time she could feel the bedsheets on her fingertips. She was going back, but he took hold of her waist. Warm. Why was he so warm? She wanted to stay.

 

“Stay with me Mai. There's one more thing I need to say," he said, "When you met that man for the third time, the fog..."

 

She couldn't hear the remainder of his sentence as she was being pulled back into her body instantly.

 

Mai woke up with a shock with her heart still beating. The warm bedsheets had wrapped around her like an arm. Tears began soaking into her pillow.

 

Why was this happening?

 

She kept asking herself that question until she fell asleep again.

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

_Day 3: Tuesday, 4th of July, 2000._

 

09:37

 

"Oy, were you the one to plaster some blank paper charms all over the place? Our bungalow was entirely covered with white paper. Do you take walks while sleeping by any chance, or were you that drunk?"

 

Both Takigawa and Ayako couldn't possibly look more hungover than they did this morning when they happened to meet after taking a sobering stroll near the lake. They met near the shelter where the medicine seller was sitting, looking rather eager to sell them some of his 'stuff', but they outright ignored him.

 

"Blank paper charms? Are you kidding me? Also, no I don't sleep walk and I went to bed... I don't have that much time to waste," Ayako answered.

 

Takigawa scratched his head,

 

"Just asking and while I'm at it, have you taken a good look at _your_ bungalow?."

 

Ayako turned around and even from a distance, she could see that the girls' place looked unusually white.

 

"What the hell...?" she looked at the monk and then her eyes went to the shelter, where the medicine seller was doing his business. "Look at that! Even the shelter. This must be a ridiculous prank!"

 

They stared at each other and their curiosity eventually lead them to the main building. Along the way, they saw that pretty much everything had been plastered under the paper charms, and the main building was no different. However, it seemed that not too many people seemed to take any notice of it, as an average person was not familiar with that type of paper.

 

"This is just weird," Takigawa said.

 

Ayako turned around the corner, and paused all of sudden. The bass player similarly froze in his place and shivered involuntarily. This was not his lucky day.

 

"Takigawa... Houshou-kun, wasn't it?" he heard the voice speak. A short man regarded him from head to toe, but especially his head was given a lot of attention.

 

"Good morning, Iimura-san, Shioya-san," he said, bowing politely to the two monks with his hair falling to each side of his face. "It has been a while."

 

Ayako observed the two bald guys clad in monastic garments. The short one, Iimura, was short, fat and wrinkled. Shioya, the young pupil who humbly followed after him, looked even more delicate than a flower. So these two were the ones they'd spied on in their room. No, the miko refused to think more about it, it was simply too much to handle. Though it was strange that they did do the deed, because this monk was famous and would practice celibacy as one would normally expect.

 

"Ta-Takigawa-sama, your hair.. you couldn't possibly have...!"

 

The younger monk looked shocked at his fellow ex-monk turned bassist. Takigawa said nothing, but gave a weak smile. The miko stared wordlessly at them. She felt quite bad for Takigawa for having been found out that he was staying in this place. Ayako assumed that he wasn't exactly up to facing a rather famous monk about having left Mount Kouya for his passion for music. She didn't quite care about it. All monks were the same to her. Iimura and Shioya appeared to think that it was quite a disgrace.

 

However, the old monk didn't even look at Takigawa and stared at her instead. Her eyes widened and she nervously smiled.

 

"Who would be this lady standing next to you?"

 

"A-ah, pleased to me-meet you, reverend, my name is Matsuzaki Ayako, I'm a mi-"

 

"My girlfriend! She's my girlfriend!" Takigawa said, after he cut her off by placing a hand in front of her mouth. The two monks looked very surprised and exchanged glances.

 

"Hmwh!!" the miko protested in vain.

 

The older monk said, "Actually, I have heard from your father that you have left Mount Kouya to pursue a... music career."

 

"Well..." Takigawa said nervously, still holding the angered woman back, "Indeed! I became a professional bassist."

 

The old monk closed his eyes, sighed and continued his way.

 

"I'm somewhat disappointed. I had high hopes for you."

 

His pupil bowed.

 

"Please excuse us, Takigawa-sama and Matsuzaki-sama."

 

He kept his hand over her mouth, until the monks were well out of sight and hearing. Then he let her go and quickly walked into the direction of the restaurant.

 

"Hey, what was that for!" she yelled.

 

Takigawa turned to face her.

 

"How can I introduce them to a miko who doesn't even look like one!" he yelled back, and then looked away. "It's less embarrassing for me if you were my girlfriend."

 

"What? Less embarrassing for you? How about me? Don't you dare calling me your girlfriend ever again, you fallen monk!" she said and huffed.

 

"Speak for yourself, self-proclaimed miko!"

 

They argued with each other until they reached the restaurant where some commotion had ensued. The kitchen staff seemed to be in a panic over something and some of the guests were gathering near the door leading to the stockroom. Takigawa went over to the bench in the outdoor café where Kaori and Rekiyo were sitting.

 

"What happened?" he asked.

 

The former girl remained silent and kept staring down, so Rekiyo spoke up for her.

 

"Kaori plucked more apples yesterday after the incident, and it turned out that they got stolen."

 

"Again?"

 

The girls nodded slowly.

 

"That's just ridiculous!" Ayako said, "Why would anyone steal apples from that stockroom?"

 

"I don't get it either," Rekiyo sighed, "Whoever it is, they could have an easier time plucking the apples from the trees in the north of the resort. It's not that hard!"

 

"Hm, but why the apples..." Takigawa whispered to himself, but his attention was caught by the three businessmen in the corner table.

 

"Why would a ghost steal apples?" a short and plumb man wondered out loud.

 

"Perhaps it's a made up story," a taller man supposed.

 

"Maybe she stole them herself," an older man said.

 

An annoyed Ayako put her hands on her hips and faced the men.

 

"Oy oy, you guys," she said, "Don't you think you've had enough of making fun of this young lady?"

 

The three ignored her and kept talking.

 

"How rude...!"

 

A young female's voice cut in.

 

"Matsuzaki-san, it's no use. They won't stop."

 

The eldest of the three men looked up at Sakaguchi Tamako, their youngest colleague. Takigawa found her a rather attractive lady with cropped black hair. Her figure was not unlike that of Ayako, but her personality did seem somewhat rigid and sharp.

 

"A good morning to you too, Sakaguchi-kun," the old man replied, "We'll quit if that silly girl stops sprouting that ridiculous nonsense about there being a... ghostly thief."

 

Kaori suddenly shot up from her chair with an angry gleam in her eyes.

 

"I'm telling the truth! Why are you making fun of me when it's so obvious!"

 

The short man laughed.

 

"Girl, what is obvious is that no one believes you."

 

The businessmen nodded.

 

"Hey, I believe her!" Rekiyo said, defending her friend, "There's no way she could have made that up, and there's no reason for her to steal the apples!"

 

"Look, I don't know whether there was a ghost or not, but at least stop bullying her," Tamako argued, "I'm horribly ashamed of you men! Do you want to stain our reputation?"

 

"If even Jinguji-san couldn't take that claim seriously, how are we supposed to deal with it?" One man said.

 

"Jinguji-san?" Takigawa got a bit lost in the conversation.

 

"Their boss," the miko whispered to him, "Come on, leave them be. Let's grab something to eat first."

 

The businesspeople were left alone on the outdoor café.

 

Tamako sighed.

 

"...about sensei, don't you think he's been acting strange ever since we got here?"

 

"You do have a point there."

 

"What do you think, Nagasaki-san?"

 

"I noticed it... a little."

 

"Gah! How could you not have noticed!" Tamako complained, holding a hand to her forehead, "You people are such simpletons!"

 

"Speaking of Jinguji-san, have you seen him?" the oldest man began, "We haven't seen him ever since he went out for a walk last night."

 

"Eh?"

 

The three men shrugged.

 

"I haven't seen him either..." Tamako said in surprise, "Have you tried calling him?"

 

"He didn't answer his phone."

 

"Wait, let me try," she said, took her cellphone out and dialled his number.

 

She held it to her ear for a while.

 

"He's not picking up here either."

 

"This is worrisome."

 

"Oonishi-san, did he say anything to you before he went away?" she asked the old man.

 

"He said he would return after an hour after taking a stroll in the forest. I'm not sure when he left though... Murokami-san?"

 

Murokami cupped his chin. "Hmm, I believe he left a bit after ten o'clock..."

 

"He never returned to our place," Nagasaki, the plumb one, said, "We assumed he slept somewhere else, perhaps at your bungalow after a chat."

 

Tamako shook her head.

 

"He never came by my place last night."

 

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

09:50

 

From a distant corner of the restaurant Naru glared at the two new arrivals. He was sitting next to Mai and Yasuhara.

 

"About time you got here," he said. 

 

Takigawa scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile, and sat down next to Lin on the opposite side, who was typing away at his laptop.

 

"Sorry, Naru-bou. Hangover."

 

The miko quickly grabbed some food before she went to sit down next to Yasuhara, who tapped on his notebook with his finger.

 

"Well, I suppose we'll get an update on the scope of events up till now?" Ayako said.

 

"Yasuhara-san." Naru said and glanced at the student.

 

Yasuhara flipped open his notebook and traced a page with his finger.

 

"Well then, as promised I'll give you an explanation and the real reasons of our current stay in the Motohashi resort. Two months ago we were called by the resort owner Motohashi Keiichi-san. He requested us to come here due to a peculiar food theft. Various items were stolen out of his fridge without a trace left of the thief. Naturally, Shibuya-san refused to take this case, as Taniyama-san might remember," he said and glanced at her for a while.

 

Mai seemed a little lost in thought, but nodded.

 

He continued, "Three weeks ago, some of us were very vacation-deprived and I had a brilliant idea of combining work and vacation for the workaholics among us."

 

The concerned parties were shot some amused looks, but they were all ignored.

 

"Thus I contacted Motohashi-san again and asked him about how his current situation was. It seemed that most of the problems had shifted to the stockroom of the restaurant... Whereas the thief was less pickier two months ago, starting from then only apples got stolen. Either in his personal quarters or from the stockroom."

 

Yasuhara paused, leaving the others to think about it, before he resumed again.

 

"Then Motohashi-san told me that there was an apple theft that occurred in less than a minute. It happened when he went away to retrieve something, but later he discovered a few apple seeds on the floor."

 

"No way," the miko said, baffled by the story. "Are you implying that the thief ate the apples on the spot?"

 

"Yes. Possibly."

 

"I bet he was really hungry," Takigawa mused.

 

"Shibuya-san still wasn't convinced that it was not a prank by either his staff members or even his own daughter," Yasuhara continued, flipping to the next page, "Then Motohashi-san argued that there a few more things he wanted to talk about, but due to the summer season starting out, he couldn't leave the resort to visit us."

 

"Why didn't he do it by phone?" Ayako asked.

 

Yasuhara shrugged.

 

"...he didn't dare to, I presume? I had the impression that the man seemed a little... paranoid? Either way, as you all know or have assumed, the case is currently on hold until further notice. Though we did check the cave out, as Shibuya-san and I had been hoping it would be related to the unspecified reasons, then perhaps we might have gotten ahead of things in the meanwhile. Unfortunately, there were no results of interest and we cannot do much without the client being here to explain us all of the problems. There are still some holes in our research, as you can see. Hara-san would have been helpful in this area, but she couldn't come due to her schedule. Neither down Brown-san, who is in Australia for a family visit."

 

Takigawa lifted his hand.

 

"Yes, Takigawa-san?"

 

"So.... Where is Motohashi-san now?"

 

"Very good question. To put it bluntly, I don't know. His brother and sister, who are currently in charge while he is away, have said that he'd gone abroad all of sudden. I was given his cellphone number, but he never picks up," Yasuhara said with a sigh, "On top of that, he never told them about what we were supposed to do here or who we are. It doesn't seem like he has a proper representative either. They just assume that we are normal guests. I never thought it would turn out like this, frankly."

 

"Gone abroad, eh?" the monk raised an eyebrow. "That sounds extremely suspicious. Especially as you said that he wouldn't leave the resort during the summer."

 

"Exactly, I'm not sure how to think about this," he replied.

 

Takigawa said, "Not to mention that we now do have someone who witnessed the theft and saw the alleged thief... this is anything but normal. What do you think, Naru-bou?"

 

The young boss chose not to answer the monk, but directed his attention to Mai who seemed to be very deep in thought.

 

"Talk," he ordered the girl.

 

"Eh?!"

 

The icy tone of his voice nearly made Mai jump out of her skin. Did he mean to rely on her dreams again?

 

"Mai, we don't have many physical clues to begin with, and if you won't bring up any important issues, we might as well leave."

 

It was as if he could read her mind. The others stopped all their activities. Even Lin stopped typing for a moment.

 

Mai swallowed.

 

"Ah, okay. I'm not sure if this is significant, but..."

 

Mai looked down at her shoes, swinging her legs, while telling them of the first dream she had. Of course she left out all the parts with her boss and the sleepwalking. Takigawa remarked that it could be a post-cognitive dream and the others agreed.

 

"Last night I slipped out of my body, and... how should I put it," Mai gave Naru a short glance, "Your brother was there too."

 

He raised an irritated eyebrow and muttered something.

 

Mai continued, "I was shown the fog in the forest and he said that he couldn't penetrate that area, no matter how much he tried. According to him it was there last night and two nights ago."

 

"Where was that fog?"

 

"Hm, it extended from the shelter up until the cave."

 

"There was no fog when we were there," Ayako noted.

 

"That's right," Mai said. "Gene thought it was a normal fog in the real world, but it seems to act as a ward in the plane we were in."

 

"Two nights ago..." Naru repeated and contemplated to link it to his amnesia of that night. According to what Mai said, he had been there with her in the forest back then.

 

"What about it, Naru-chan?” the monk asked.

 

Lin had stopped with typing again. Realizing that Naru could have been there that night, he wondered if it had something to do with it. Lin did notice that his shiki were at times restless, but couldn't really figure out what made them like that.

 

The girl stared in disbelief at her boss, thinking he was slipping up. Mai decided to change the subject.

 

"Could we check up on that area?"

 

"Did he say that?" Naru said, narrowing his eyes.

 

"Well, actually, yes..." she admitted with a sigh.

 

"Did you ask him if the fog was there during the day?"

 

"He only said during the night, but no I didn't ask..."

 

Naru felt a strong urge to roll his eyes at this stupidity. Those two never failed to be unclear.

 

"That idiot. It's useless if we don't know whether this is a regular occurrence or whether it has something to do with..."

 

He chose not to continue, because the monk spoke.

 

"...a spirit ward. Why would someone set up something like that?"

 

"To prevent interference," Lin said, looking at Naru.

 

"What do you mean, Lin?"

 

"...to ward from any spiritual beings," he explained. "It seems obvious that something is happening in that fog, but they aren't allowed in. The latter would probably include my shiki, your brother and... perhaps even the forest spirits."

 

Lin just threw that one in and he partly succeeded. His main target Naru gave no response whatsoever, but interestingly Mai looked shocked. The others seem to have no idea what he meant with that phrase. He had expected Naru to look at least angry at that mention, but not even a single expression was found on his face. That slightly surprised him.

 

He continued, "Of course, physical beings would be able to enter that place. I suspect that any spirits closely linked to them are able to enter. My shiki reported no problems when I entered the forest."

 

"I see," Naru said, then glanced to his side, "Mai, did you try entering it?"

 

"Eh? No."

 

"Astral beings probably wouldn't be able to interfere either," Lin said.

 

"Speaking of astral beings... There's someone else there," Mai said.

 

"Someone else?" Yasuhara repeated after her. They all looked at her with curiosity.

 

"I mean, somebody else can do astral travel beside me," she explained, and looked outside their group to see if anyone was listening in. Nobody was. Her colleagues were struck speechless at this unexpected announcement. "I saw him, he was like.... golden and dark-skinned, with white hair."

 

Obviously there wasn't anyone that fulfilled the description in this resort.

 

After a few moments the monk spoke.

 

"I can't say I have seen anyone like that here. Do you have any idea who it could be?"

 

“I... don't know...”

 

Mai had a pretty good idea who it was, but she was hesitant about bringing it up. What if she got it wrong?

 

"It's not going to help anyone if you don't talk, Mai-chan," the monk said with a sigh. "What if it has something to do with the case?"

 

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I'm just not sure about it."

 

"So you did meet the guy," Takigawa said.

 

"No, well, when I saw him there in the astral plane, he seemed to be asleep."

 

"Did he see Gene?" Naru asked.

 

"Eh? Ah, maybe? He didn't say so, but it sounds like he did... he seemed wary of that man."

 

The boss leaned back.

 

"I know who it is."

 

The atmosphere changed in an instant. It was as if everyone jumped up from their seats with their gazes on Naru.

 

"You know?!" the miko exclaimed, slamming her hands on he table. "Who? How?"

 

"Stop the commotion, there's no need for it," he grimaced, "It's the medicine seller."

 

No one said anything for a few seconds. They hadn't taken him into account, because he was just that, just an ordinary medicine seller. However, Mai knew better than that.

 

"The medicine seller?" Yasuhara raised an eyebrow.

 

"Ho-how can you be so sure?" Mai asked.

 

"He asked me whether he had seen me elsewhere," Naru explained. "Since I've never met him before, I am going to guess he saw that idiot. Unlike what a certain other idiot thought of him, that man assumed it was probably someone else right away."

 

"A certain other idiot? Are you referring to me?!" Mai said, wanting to kick him so badly, "Why you..."

 

Naru didn't even spare her a glance.

 

"Besides, spirits can change shapes."

 

"That's true," Takigawa nodded. "He likely did that to protect his identity in real life."

 

"So it's like using a nickname on the internet?" Yasuhara asked.

 

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised," he replied, before looking back at the girl. "So Mai, is he the one you had in mind?"

 

Mai nodded slowly.

 

"Before I was pulled back into my body, Gene was about to tell me something... about a fog when I met the medicine seller for the third time. That was when Kiyo-san and I went to buy something."

 

"Buy what?" the miko asked.

 

"Me-medicine! Of course" she answered with a light blush.

 

Naru looked away. He didn't need to be reminded.

 

When Ayako and Lin saw the reactions of the two, they slightly paled.

 

"A-Anyway, when we got there he was talking to this guy," Mai said and told them about the conversation with Sumori Horoyuki and the contents of the box, avoiding the porn, as well as the medicine seller being a mononoke hunter.

 

"Mononoke."

 

"Isn't that a type of youkai or an ayakashi?" Yasuhara cupped his chin.

 

"I don't understand much of it either," Mai had to admit.

 

Ayako put her bread down and folded her arms.

 

"Youkai and Ayakashi roughly refer to the same thing, supernatural and divine creatures. Obake also falls into that category, but mostly indicate shape-shifting monsters or western monsters. As for mononoke..."

 

They all waited for her explanation.

 

"I guess you could say they're the same as youkai or ayakashi with one major difference. They're no longer neutral."

 

"Ah! I see now," Yasuhara said, and wrote something in his notebook.

 

He wrote the following: 物の怪 (Mononoke)

 

"物 (mono) is the character for 'thing', which is followed by a possessive particle の (no), then after that comes 怪 (ke). 'Ke' means suspicious, mysterious or apparition. If I'm not mistaken it originally meant illness, so it indicates a negative feeling."

 

"Yup, basically it means that they are vengeful spirits," Ayako pointed out. "On the other hand, ayakashi or youkai are neither good or bad. They're neutral and there's nothing human about them."

 

No one had anything else to say. Either they agreed or they were completely stunned that Ayako knew something. Takigawa was not surprised. They were talking about Shintoist entities, and she was a Shinto priestess.

 

"In other words, mononoke are ayakashi infested with human emotions," Yasuhara said.

 

Mai wasn't quite sure if she understood what they were saying. It was too much for in the morning. So these, demons, these mononoke... did they feel the same way as humans?

 

"That medicine seller, if he hunts mononoke... Does that mean there is one here?" Takigawa wondered out loud.

 

"Well, I suppose he's looking for one," Mai said, "He's certainly not an ordinary medicine seller, if he drags around a katana with him."

 

Naru sighed. This conversation about that man wasn't really going anywhere, and they were in need of some concrete clues on this case.

 

"I need to know whether he has something to do with this. Do any of you know when he arrived here?"

 

"Ah, Kiyo-san told me he arrived just before we did. They let him in to sell things, I guess," Mai said.

 

"It doesn't seem like it's a great success, when we just walked past him a while ago," the monk said, then suddenly sat up straight when he was reminded of something. "The paper charms!"

 

"Ah, now that you mention it..." Ayako said, "Those blank paper charms, they're everywhere!"

 

The others looked at them with a frown. At that time they thought that those two were definitely drunk.

 

"Paper charms?"

 

"Yeah, I went for a walk this morning near the lake. The bungalow, the shelter, well, pretty much everywhere there were plastered with blank paper charms. I don't know when that happened though," Takigawa said.

 

"Blank paper charms?" Naru frowned. "It's not a prank?"

 

"Not a prank," he said, wondering how many times Naru could relate all these incidents to pranks. "Someone is definitely being generous with those charms. I was thinking that it could be Ayako, but it wasn't her of course."

 

At the worst possible moment his stomach rumbled. Mai and Yasuhara laughed.

 

"Oh crap."

 

"I did tell you to get some food, old man," Ayako said with an amused smile.

 

"Okay, if we're done, then I'm going to get some," Takigawa said, rising from his seat. "Is that all you want to discuss with us, Naru-bou?"

 

“Wait...” Naru said, and looked at Mai again. “Did Gene mention anything else?”

 

“No.”

 

He looked at for a while and then turned his gaze to the monk.

 

"That will be all. Do notify me or Lin at our bungalow if something significant comes up. As for the investigation-"

 

"The weather will be particularly hot at noon, so I suggest gathering at our place at three o'clock before we investigate the forest," Lin interrupted, pointedly looking at Naru. Obviously he wanted to avoid any more victims of heat.

 

Naru wasn't pleased, but he complied.

 

“Right. Will do,” Takigawa said and headed off to the buffet area. Ayako followed after him with an empty plate.

 

“Sound good to me,” Yasuhara said. “I will try to contact Motohashi-san once more. Hopefully it will work out this time.”

 

Naru nodded and went outside. Yasuhara went down to the lobby.

 

Mai looked down and sighed.

 

“Are you all right? Taniyama-san?”

 

Lin's voice made her jump. He was still here? Unbeknownst to her the Chinese man had been observing her for a while.

 

“Yes? How come?”

 

He unplugged the laptop cable as he answered.

 

“You seemed unwell during the conversation.”

 

Mai froze. He was able to pick up on that?

 

“I'm all right. Really...” she said with a smile. “I didn't sleep very well. That's all...”

 

“The forest spirits...” Lin suddenly prompted.

 

She froze again.

 

Lin knew. _He knew!_

 

“...what?”

 

His stoic eyes looked at her.

 

“I just remembered something. During the trip to the cave my shiki noticed a distinct lack of spirits in the forest.”

 

Mai relaxed her shoulders. So he didn't know? For a moment she thought that Naru had blown his own plan of secrecy.

 

He continued, “Normally there should be a certain amount of spirits in a forest, whether of animals, trees or people. This forest is lacking in human spirits.”

 

“...there were no animal spirits either?”

 

“...the shiki only reported a lack of human spirits. Animal spirits are not their field of expertise, but normally they should be able to sense a dense population. However, I don't trust them to have affinity with tree spirits.”

 

“Right, we need Ayako for that...” Mai said, “But does the fog have anything to do with this?”

 

Lin shrugged.

 

“I will have to discuss that with Naru first.”

 

Mai pondered the situation.

 

“The fog is a spirit ward right?”

 

He nodded.

 

“Likely.”

 

“...so why is it a ward?”

 

“Why?” Lin repeated. “That's what I'd like to know.”

 

“What do you want to know?”

 

The monk was still at the buffet, but Ayako had already returned with a plate of fruit. She stared at Lin, but he didn't reply. He shut his laptop and went to stand in front of her. 

 

“It might be interesting to explore the forest together with you,” he replied and walked away.

 

Ayako watched him leave.

 

“What...”

 

“Um... Ayako?” Mai asked. She was almost afraid that the woman had taken it the wrong way.

 

“What the hell did he just say?!” Ayako blurted out with a red face.

 

Before Mai could tell her that Lin didn't mean it like that, the monk had chosen to return at that moment, appearing behind Ayako.

 

“Who said what?” he asked.

 

Ayako yelped and made a sudden turn.

 

“Whoa, Ayako! Careful with the fruit!”

 

“Idiot! Don't scare me like that!” she yelled.

 

“I wasn't scaring you!” he yelled back.

 

“You were! I didn't hear you coming!”

 

Mai heaved a sighed as they continued to banter. This day was already giving her a headache.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reincarnated Mononoke characters in this chapter.
> 
> The monks
> 
> Iimura Genta: Genkei (Umi Bouzu)
> 
> Shioya Souha: Sougen (Umi Bouzu)
> 
> The businessmen
> 
> Oonishi Rokuhei: Oosawa Roubo (Nue)
> 
> Murokami Tomoaki: Muromachi Tomoyoshi (Nue)
> 
> Nagasaki Tanemoto: Nakarai Tansui (Nue)


	6. Chapter 6

_The night before_

 

The clear sky would be quite dazzling and marvellous if he weren't in the middle of the forest without even an idea how he got here. He was lying on the ground and struggled to get up. When the pain released him, he awoke and stood. For a moment he didn't know where he was, but once his eyes trained themselves in the dark, a glistening from beyond the shadowy path got his attention. His hearing sharpened and he heard the sound of water.

 

A misty sparkling source of water made his eyes blink in excitement. The man went closer without feeling his body move.

 

_To the lake!_

 

He stopped his feet from walking. Did he just hear something? There was nothing except the rustling of leaves. It must have been his imagination.

 

_You must go to the lake._

 

Rustling of the leaves. Was that supposed to happen? The man turned around and froze. Behind him a long-haired man stood. It was too dark for him to see the details, but he did look much shorter and younger than him.

 

"Don't you hear her?" The young man said. His voice was soft and calm.

 

What was he talking about? Isn't that the lake? the older man thought. Come to think of it. This was bizarre. Why was he here? He couldn't remember anything at all.

 

"You must go to the lake."

 

Unable to say anything, the man simply pointed out the lake with his finger.

 

The young man smirked, pointed back at him and said, "Funny, you didn't notice anything."

 

What?

 

The older man looked at the finger that was pointing at the lake. It was transparent. His entire hand, no, his entire body was! What the hell happened? The man panicked and the other laughed. No, no, don't laugh! Why are you here? Why couldn't he scream? What happened to his voice?

 

Then he remembered.

 

Caught between the cabin and that lake. Fighting like a madman and yet losing. The cold touch of metal against his throat.

 

Tamako! Help me, Tamako! Anyone! He had tried to cry out in his last moment.

 

Yet, no sound, thus silence. It was too late. What more could he do now? The man surrendered himself to the call beyond the lake.

 

_Go to the lake!_

 

The man went and was guided through a tunnel of white. Could this be the road to heaven? The journey seemed to have ended pre-emptively and he descended down on a lake. Before him was a wall of water. The sound of falling water. The figure of a young long-haired woman in a white kimono beckoned him into the darkness beyond that wall.

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

 

_Day 3: Tuesday, 4th of July, 2000._

 

14:25 (02:25 PM)

 

It took all of Mai's effort to convince Ayako that Lin was most likely very deep in thought when he asked her to come with him to the forest. However, she couldn't deny that it didn't sound like some sort of _proposition_. Mai had questioned his intention for a second, but shook her head. There was no way Lin was interested in Ayako like that. The girl still remembered how Ayako was complaining about the man's silent behaviour during a three hour car trip alone with him. Surely he wouldn't have behaved like that if he were interested in her? 

 

Despite all of that, Mai ended up asking Lin for clarification. 

 

At Ayako's request.

 

"Um, Lin-san, you meant to ask Ayako to check up on the trees, right?"

 

Lin sat in front of his laptop at the kitchen table. He replied without even looking at the girl.

 

"Yes, that's why we're investigate the forest this afternoon."

 

"Oh, I see."

 

However, he seemed puzzled enough, and turned around.

 

"Why? Is there something you need to know?"

 

"Nothing. Just wanted to clear up a misunderstanding," Mai said with a grin.

 

Lin looked up and noticed Ayako standing behind the girl. She only made a silly smile.

 

"See you later!"

 

Before he could respond, the woman practically fled from his sight by escaping through the front-door.

 

"Hey, wait for me!" Mai called out.

 

Ayako was _fast_. From her rigid shoulders it was clear that she felt embarrassed.

 

When the girl finally caught up to her, Ayako suddenly stopped. Mai accidentally bumped her nose into her shoulder.

 

"Hey, look out!"

 

Ayako didn't say anything, but merely stared in front of her. There were a lot of people roaming around near the main building. Whispers all around.

 

"Why are there so many...?"

 

Out of the corner of her eye, Mai spotted a police officer talking to a frantic young woman.

 

"Police?"

 

"I think there's something wrong with Sakaguchi-san," Ayako said, and looked at Mai, "Can you go back and tell the others there's police around?"

 

Mai nodded, knowing that Naru would not be happy with this.

 

"Yeah... I'll tell Naru."

 

The miko ran over to Sakaguchi Tamako, who had finished talking to the officer. Tamako seemed very distraught and pale, but once she noticed Ayako her face seemed to cheer up a little.

 

"Ah, Matsuzaki-san. It's good to see you again," she said.

 

"What's going on? Did something happen?" Ayako asked.

 

"I have absolutely no idea... My boss, Jinguji-sensei, went missing last night... I heard he went for a walk, but he never came back or answered his phone. I was concerned that something might have happened, so I asked the staff to help looking for him, but they couldn't find him anywhere!"

 

Ayako frowned. That sounded like bad news.

 

"So that's why you called the police..."

 

Tamako nodded.

 

"I'm hoping for the best, but he wouldn't just disappear like that. Sensei isn't that type of person," she said, and sighed, "Though with the way he's been acting recently, it makes me worried..."

 

"You did tell me about that at the party," Ayako said, and frowned, "I'm sorry if this is rude, but did he have any troubles?"

 

Tamako looked up and shook her head.

 

"If it's something like that, then it's something I would know... he's my uncle after all," she said and sighed.

 

"How about this? I'll let my friends know and help with you with the search."

 

She blinked and bowed.

 

"That would be of much help. Thank you so much for offering, Matsuzaki-san."

 

"No problem, and just Ayako is fine."

 

"Then, Ayako-san, you may call me Tamako."

 

Ayako went back to the men's bungalow, where Mai and the others were. There she explained to them what happened and asked whether they would want to search for the missing man. Yasuhara and Takigawa volunteered to help. Naru told them to do as they like and as predicted Lin seemed to have no objections either. Mai also volunteered to go, but Naru told her to stay put and make tea.

 

She had grumbled.

 

With the boss's approval, they went to confront the police officer who they saw standing by the shelter. Of course they needed to know how the missing man looked like. The police officer was quite casually dressed in a standard light-blue shirt and black pants. The sweat on his face betrayed the heat of the summer. A wipe with a small towel solved the problem temporarily.

 

"Good afternoon, officer," Yasuhara said when they arrived at the shelter.

 

The officer frowned and stuffed the towel in his back-pocket.

 

"Hello, who would you be?"

 

Ayako said, "My name is Matsuzaki Ayako. These people are Yasuhara Osamu and Takigawa Houshou. I am a friend of Sakaguchi Tamako-san. She told me her superior was missing, and I was wondering whether me and my friends could help out. We're willing to do anything we can."

 

"Call me Odagiri," he said, "I appreciate your help, but it is not needed."

 

She raised an eyebrow.

 

"Huh? Why not?" she asked.

 

Odagiri stuck his hands into his pockets and looked down on them.

 

"You see... I don't need help from youngsters like you. I'm not responsible if you find a dead body by accident, and be traumatized for life. I won't let anyone search this forest until the missing person is found."

 

"We're just concerned, Odagiri-san," Takigawa said, and scratched the back of his head.

 

"As I said, I appreciate the thought."

 

"How many people are on this by the way?" Yasuhara asked.

 

"We have the entire police force in the area working on this as well as a few staff members of this resort."

 

"The entire police force?!" the miko gasped.

 

The man glared at them, then returned to the file he was holding in his hands.

 

"Four men, including me, along with two staff members."

 

"That's... all?!" the monk exclaimed.

 

Odagiri sharply turned his head.

 

"What did you youngsters expect from this in the middle of nowhere village? Hundred men? No, of course not! Yes, we do need more help. Perhaps involve some helicopters in case he's starving with a broken leg on top of some mountain!" the officer ranted, "Or perhaps a diver team, before his rotten body is going to decompose at the bottom of this stupid lake. This place is _huuuge_. We need all the help we can get!"

 

To emphasize his point he spread his arms wide.

 

The trio was suddenly very relieved that neither Mai or Naru were there to hear what the ill-tempered officer just told them. There was an unspoken agreement in the group about not putting the words 'body', 'lake', and 'decompose' in the same sentence in case hell would break loose.

 

"Uh, did I say something wrong?" Odagiri said when he noticed that their faces had lost all colour and expressed a grimace.

 

"No no," Yasuhara said nervously, "It's just that, you could have put it diff-"

 

A sudden ringing of a phone interrupted the young man. The officer searched in his pocket for a phone and held it to his ear.

 

"Yes. What? NO. I told you to go INTO the forest. He's probably gone stray. You know those city bumpkins. Also, tell Sajima for me to check up on any of the huts near the lake. Yes. Yes. Now GO!"

 

He hung up and then stared at the speechless trio.

 

"What?"

 

Ayako asked with a grimace, "Um, we just wanted to asked if you had a picture of that man for us... We won't go anywhere near dangerous, but it would be handy just in case we might spot him elsewhere?"

 

It seemed Odagiri suddenly realized his bad attitude and quickly bowed.

 

"I apologize for my behaviour. Due to the incompetencies of my colleagues during times like these, I'm quick to anger."

 

"Oh so, we can go into the forest now?" Takigawa cheerfully said.

 

"NO."

 

Yasuhara made a wry smile. Naru's plan to investigate the forest had crumbled at the same time.

 

Odagiri snatched a photo from his file.

 

"Here we have his picture. The name's Jinguji Komura. A bald man in his fifties. Pretty tall and lean. Recognize the fellow?"

 

"Yes, Tamako-san introduced me to him during the party last night," Ayako said.

 

Takigawa seemed less sure.

 

"Seen him around, I think?"

 

Yasuhara blinked a few times.

 

"Matsuzaki-san, Takigawa-san.... Isn't he the one we bumped into last night?"

 

That realization sent chills down their spine.

 

The officer nearly jumped up.

 

"Really?! Did he tell you anything? Where did he go?"

 

"Damn, I can barely remember anything," Ayako said, putting a hand to her forehead.

 

"...I guess we were too drunk to notice," the monk admitted with a shrug.

 

"I still remember some details," Yasuhara said, but he hesitated in mentioning the dare from last night. "We passed by over there to get to Matsuzaki-san's bungalow, to drop her off after the party. That is where we bumped into Jinguji-san."

 

"At what time did it happen?"

 

"I estimate around... Half past ten?"

 

"Did he say anything to you?"

 

"I'm afraid he was quite angry about us stumbling around like drunks... Oh, he did mention he wanted to take a walk in the forest."

 

Odagiri nodded.

 

"Then Takigawa-san and I went back to our own place shortly after we dropped Matsuzaki-san at her home. If I'm mistaken I noticed that there was another person who went into the forest... It wasn't Jinguji-san."

 

The officer raised an eyebrow.

 

"What did he look like?"

 

"I think it was a man, but I couldn't see him clearly though."

 

"However, I'm not sure of this, I know I was the only one sober enough to notice it, but it could very well just be my imagination," Yasuhara said.

 

"Aren't you a little too young for alcohol?" Odagiri said.

 

"I'm younger than I look, Odagiri-san, I'm already in my twentieth year," the young man said.with an innocent smile.

 

A smirk crossed the officer's face. He had to admit that this person was rather shrewd. Odagiri let it pass, and opened his notepad.

 

"Hmm, the three of you. Please write down your names. I'm going to get a full list of all the guests in here while I investigate this matter."

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

19:00 (07:00 PM)

 

At seven o'clock in the evening, head officer Odagiri had gathered all of the guests into the conference room of the Motohashi resort's main building. Approximately four hours after the search had started, the body of Jinguji Komura, the director of a perfume company, had been found hidden in the mud between a cabin and the lake. An autopsy would have to determine the exact cause of his death, but for not it was assumed that he died of unnatural means - in other words, he was killed. Odagiri further declared that nobody could leave the resort until further notice.

 

The atmosphere among the guests was clearly shaken. This implied that all of them were considered suspects, and even more upsetting was that there was a possible murderer among them. The employees of the perfume company were in the middle of mourning their boss, but the others had enough time to look at the other people in the room. Who was it that killed Jinguji?

 

The tension escalated when the two monks added to the account of witnesses.

 

"Is that not the man we saw going into the forest when we went for a walk along the lake after our night of chanting?" Iimura said, glancing at a man who sat in the very back.

 

Both Takigawa and Ayako grimaced. Those monks called what they did... a night of chanting?

 

They all looked behind them and saw a man with a droopy eye and messy black hair panic.

 

"What, me?"

 

"Yes, we did see him!" The young monk Shioya exclaimed and trembled,

 

"Wakabayashi Munesuke-san, isn't it?" Odagiri looked up from his list.

 

"Yes, that's me."

 

"According to several witnesses in this room, it was you who went into the forest, after Jinguji-san did. Is that correct?"

 

Wakabayashi's jaw dropped.

 

"Yes, but- but, I swear that I immediately left!"

 

Odagiri frowned.

 

"Oh, why is that?"

 

Wakabayashi nervously gestured with his hands.

 

"It- It was so dark, no I mean, I couldn't see a thing! I got scared. There was so much f-fog all of sudden!" he yelled. "I always take walks in the forest at night, but this fog was just ridiculous!"

 

The members of Shibuya Psychic Research all exchanged glances.

 

"Wakabayashi-san, even if you claim such a thing, you're still under suspicion," Odagiri said.

 

"What a shameful act of lying," Iimura commented disdainfully, "Do you mean to say that you got scared of the dark and at the same time claim that it is supposedly your hobby to walk in the forest at night?"

 

The man turned red.

 

"You you! I- I did not mean that I was scared of the dark. I was only scared of the fog!"

 

Shioya huffed and Iimura turned his head away.

 

"Isn't this what they call a lack of alibi, officer?" The old monk said to the head officer, "You should do your responsibility, and arrest this man right away. There is no reason to keep all of us in this resort."

 

"Iimura, that's enough!"

 

The entire audience fell silent. The yell came from the front row, where a sandy haired young man had faced the two monks two rows behind him. Takigawa could barely contain his anger.

 

Shioya looked horrified.

 

"Talking in such a way to the revered Iimura-sama... Takigawa-sama, how could you?! Are you out of your mind?" the young monk exclaimed.

 

Ayako felt a strong urge to kick some spine into the boy. His attitude simply annoyed her.

 

"Shut up, Shioya," the bassist said with a deep scowl on his face, and looked at the old monk again. "As if you guys haven't done any shameful acts! Night of chanting? Give me a break. I saw what you did in your bedroom... with the... wimpy guy over there."

 

The audience suddenly burst into loud whispers.

 

"What are you implying, Takigawa-kun? We were chanting," the older monk said as if he hadn't done anything wrong.

 

The bassist didn't budge.

 

"You know obviously well what I mean."

 

"You're implying that you spied on us?"

 

"Of course I was, and my friends here can testify to that as well," Takigawa argued, pointing out an embarrassed looking Yasuhara and a shocked Ayako. He continued, "But you know what? I don't care one single bit about your affairs with Shioya. Your attitude however? It's simply disgusting. I don't care how revered you are. You're just as fallen as me."

 

The monks argued back and forth, and nobody quite believed that was happening. The label 'fallen monks' suited them better indeed.

 

"Silence! Order in the room!" Odagiri tried.

 

"Are you saying Wakabayashi is innocent? With your behaviour you could be murderers as well! You and your friends," Iimura said.

 

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Takigawa furiously said.

 

The miko backed him up.

 

"Hey, what the hell are you talking about? There's no proof for what you're claiming about us."

 

"Takigawa-san, Matsuzaki-san!" Yasuhara and Mai tried to calm them, but to no avail.

 

Both the monk and miko were quite pissed off at the two, and had left their seats.

 

One person suddenly put himself in the crossfire of words. His blue eyes were facing Takigawa and Ayako, and looked cold and merciless. 

 

"I want you to be quiet and sit down."

 

The miko was the first one the back down. She looked a little concerned at Takigawa, who hadn't moved away just yet.

 

"Bou-san... You've gone too far," Naru said quietly, "Why are you letting personal matters into this? We have a reputation to uphold."

 

"I am defending that reputation, Naru. Those scum-bags are accusing us of being murderers..." he angrily replied.

 

"What is there to defend when my employee and two associates have apparently spied on two other people after a binge?" he said, "Not to mention you've crossed the line right in front of these people."

 

Takigawa bit on his lips, turned around and just left the room without a word.

 

Both Ayako and Yasuhara apologized for their behaviour to the monks and everyone else. The miko went to sit down, but Naru confronted the other boy.

 

"Yasuhara-san, go after him and do some research Jinguji-san and his company. Contact Madoka if you need her. Lin and I will get some equipment after this meeting is over."

 

He blinked.

 

"Yes sir."

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

20:55 (08:55 PM)

 

Yasuhara left the conference room and found Takigawa sitting in the outdoor café. He was still a bit shocked at the earlier outburst of his friend. It didn't seem like something he would do. Then again he recalled how Takigawa had been wanting to avoid the two monks, most likely to avoid comments like they made earlier on.

 

"Hey there. I suppose I should not ask how you're doing?"

 

Takigawa ran a hand through his hair.

 

"Rather than that, I guess Naru is hating on me right now, huh?"

 

Yasuhara smiled a little. So he was concerned about that.

 

"I wouldn't say so. Especially since he was the one who sent me after you under the guise of researching Jinguji and his company," Yasuhara replied, "Shall we head back to the bungalow in advance and get on it?"

 

Takigawa wordlessly complied.

 

It was almost nine o'clock when the two went back on their own. Yasuhara found the place rather creepy when there were so little people around. It was almost as if there was no noise other than their footsteps. On the other hand Takigawa was still too upset to notice those things. After they arrived in the bungalow, he groaned and released his frustrations by pounding on the wall.

 

Yasuhara went to sit on the couch and looked a little concerned.

 

"Damn, why did that Iimura accuse us of committing that murder?" the older man said.

 

"Perhaps to cover his own sin, I suppose..."

 

"Ugh, that's just awful..."

 

Yasuhara proceeded to look up some things on his laptop, while a grumpy Takigawa continued to pace the room. At one point the monk looked in the trash can and found something.

 

"Hey, what's this?" he said.

 

"What is it?"

 

Takigawa inhaled the scent and felt something snap in his mind. The sounds of different gears turning. Turning into a different direction. However, Takigawa quickly dismissed the strange feeling.

 

He threw the package at the boy.

 

Yasuhara caught it and was suddenly overwhelmed by a strong and sweet scent. He didn't even need to put his nose next to it.

 

"Pretty nice right?"

 

"It's rather strong... I wonder what it is..."

 

Yasuhara pondered for a while. He couldn't help but wonder what contents were and why it was sitting in their trash can. None of the men seemed to favour sweet scents. On the other hand, Ayako was obviously the type to keep her perfume in bottles. Could it have been Mai? Yasuhara looked at the packaging. It was a rather old looking paper bag, and it was obviously not something to be sold in that fashion.

 

"Damn, it's so hot in here."

 

Takigawa removed his t-shirt to fight the heat.

 

The heat? Yasuhara raised an eyebrow. The temperature was rather low at this point of the evening, so it surprised him that the monk would...

 

He smiled. The monk suddenly looked attractive. Yasuhara couldn't figure out why that happened. He made the usual joke. Maybe that would take his mind off the earlier argument.

 

"Oh, look at those abs~. Is Takigawa-san trying to seduce me?"

 

For once Takigawa seemed actually happy at the joke.

 

"Now now, Takigawa-san. Don't just stand there."

 

"Hey, not so bold there, young man," the monk exclaimed, and went over to the other. "I'm the older one here."

 

"Why would that matter?" Yasuhara was slightly surprised at his flirting, but it did amuse him nonetheless.

 

Takigawa grinned.

 

"I'm the taller one, so you should be at the bottom."

 

He took the glasses from the student's face, and discarded it somewhere on the floor.

 

"Ta-takigawa-san, my glasses!"

 

Yasuhara's vision went all blurry. He wanted to look for his glasses, but was pushed down by the the stupidly irresistible man. Takigawa was sitting on him.

 

"Hey, you actually look cute like this."

 

Yasuhara couldn't help but be a little offended. He was going for that smart student look.

 

"Takigawa-san, I want my glasses back."

 

The man didn't leave his lap. Yasuhara thought he was way too heavy.

 

"You don't need them. If you want to play around with me, you might as well go all the way."

 

The boy was too shocked to reply. He saw the blurry grin on his friend's face. Was he joking?

 

"This is a really good joke, you surpr-."

 

Yasuhara couldn't finish the sentence, because at that moment he was silenced by a mouth.

 

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

21:19 (9:19 PM)

 

When they were close to the bungalow, Naru sighed and turned to look back at the girl.

 

"...Mai, what are you doing?"

 

Mai had accidentally dropped the bag of apples. Lin and Ayako went ahead, while the pair remained behind to pick up the apples. The women were asked to get some plucked apples and apples from the store, so they could use it as a bait at the men's place. Lin and Naru were in charge of unloading some of the few equipment that was left in the van.

 

"I'm sorry, I just slipped over something," Mai apologized.

 

Naru didn't say anything while he helped her. When he did that, he just looked at her. What could she be hiding from him, he wondered. Mai noticed his gaze, and blushed.

 

"You don't need to look at me so much," she whispered.

 

Naru stood up and said nothing.

 

"What no comeback?"

 

He lifted an eyebrow at the girl.

 

"I thought you would say.... Now you know how it feels like to be stared at so much?" Mai said in a monotone voice.

 

Naru shrugged.

 

"Don't you enjoy it?" he said.

 

Mai flushed red.

 

However, Naru's eyes were not on her, but at the two at the front door. Mai saw how the two adults stared wide-eyed through the open door. Ayako suddenly closed it in a hurry, and went to stare at her sandals. Lin had looked away from whatever was on the inside. She whispered something to Lin. The man nodded. They didn't look at each other as they walked back to the younger people.

 

Naru and Mai frowned.

 

"Come with us," a flustered Ayako said, passing them by.

 

"Huh? Why? Is there something wrong with Bousan?"

 

"Just come, Mai! You too, Naru!" she hissed and grabbed the girl's wrist.

 

"A-Ayako!"

 

Naru confronted Lin.

 

"What's going on?'

 

"Not now. I'll tell you later," Lin replied.

 

Naru was unsatisfied with the answer, but decided to follow them anyway. 

 

Once they were inside of the other bungalow, Lin clicked the door shut.

 

"Matsuzaki-san, Taniyama-san. Do you mind if Naru and I stay the night in the free room?"

 

Mai looked surprised, but Ayako pointed right at the free bedroom on the first floor.

 

"Oho, not at all. Stay as long as you like."

 

"Thank you," Lin said, and then looked at Naru. "I will set up the equipment here."

 

"What's going on with you two?" the young boss demanded. He didn't like that someone else was taking charge of things.

 

Ayako looked at him.

 

"Trust us on this, okay?" she said, "Just sit down and we'll you what the fuss is about."

 

They sat down.

 

Naru and Mai were sitting on one couch. The young man was obviously not pleased and the girl seemed to be worried about the monk. Lin and Ayako sat down on the opposite couch. The Chinese felt very uncomfortable about discussing the topic with Naru and Mai, but the miko had said that. If it had been left up to him, he would have taken them apart.

 

The miko obviously regretted the plan. She whispered into his ears.

 

"So um.. how do we go about this?"

 

Lin folded arms and looked away.

 

"It was your idea, Matsuzaki-san," he replied uncaringly.

 

When Ayako made a helpless face, Naru cleared his throat and Mai looked increasingly impatient.

 

"I take it that he hasn't hanged himself, right?" Naru said with a faceless expression. The girl glared and the miko looked shocked for a moment.

 

"No no NO. No one is dead. It's just that..."

 

"Matsuzaki-san, just say it," Lin insisted.

 

Ayako turned to him with an angry look on her face.

 

"How about _you_ say it?" 

 

Lin stubbornly glared back at the woman.

 

"No."

 

"Ayako! Just give it to us straight," Mai said.

 

The miko's face turned into a very contorted grin that bordered on hysterics.

 

"...but it's not exactly straight, hehe," she said, half-laughing.

 

Lin brought a palm to his face. Naru just looked at him, because the woman couldn't explain it clearly.

 

"Lin."

 

The man looked a little aghast and... coughed.

 

"Do you want some tea, everyone?" Ayako suddenly asked.

 

They nodded.

 

"But you know this is going to take a while..." 

 

Off she went to the kitchen, and Lin stared after her. Betrayal!

 

In the meanwhile their impatient eyes were on him. He felt himself crumble under the pressure.

 

"Yasuhara-san and Takigawa-san are..." Lin tried.

 

Mai leaned forward.

 

"Yes?"

 

"They're.... involved."

 

"Involved in what?" Naru asked.

 

That was the end of the sentence, you idiot scientist, Lin thought. He braced himself for the worst.

 

"Takigawa-san was sitting on top of Yasuhara-san," he continued, and hoped that they would get the hint.

 

There was no reaction from the two, other than that they just stared at them. They should have gotten it by now, right? They couldn't be that idiotic, Lin hoped.

 

"Why?" Mai asked with an innocent face. "Were they fighting?"

 

Lin's brain broke. This was beginning to sound like a broken record.

 

"No."

 

He was so not going to be the one to tell them, 

 

However, Naru stared at him with a face of disbelief.

 

"Lin, you're joking."

 

Thank you, Naru, _thank_ you!

 

"I'm not!"

 

"Then just say it already, because I think I'm getting the wrong idea from what you're telling us."

 

Lin heaved a sigh and looked at them with his face as blank as possible

 

"Right now, Takigawa-san and Yasuhara-san are having sex with each other."

 

Silence.

 

The colours had drained away from their faces. Naru placed his palm against his forehead. They could hear Ayako dropping something in the kitchen and sputtering around. Mai took this as a cue to help the woman.

 

Lin leaned back into the couch. That wasn't so bad, actually.

 

"Lin," Naru said with an impossibly calm voice.

 

"Yes?"

 

"Let's set up the bait."

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

 

After they installed the equipment and finished setting up, Naru and Lin went to their new bedroom. They hadn't brought any clothes, so they had to make do with the spare pyjama's in the closets. Unsurprisingly, none of them seemed to be of Lin's size. That was one of the things he hated about Japan.

 

When there was a knock on the door, he opened it. Ayako was standing there in dark red pyjama's.

 

"Can I talk to you for a second?"

 

He looked back for a moment. Naru didn't even pay attention them, so Lin closed the door behind him.

 

"What is it?"

 

"Um, I know it sounds weird, but... can you meet me in the bathroom in five minutes? Don't let that boy know," she whispered.

 

He frowned.

 

"It's important," she added.

 

"All right, I will see you then."

 

Ayako went back upstairs.

 

Lin went back to the bedroom. As long as Naru didn't question him about this, he wouldn't say anything. Just pretend it was nothing important.

 

After five minutes he left for the bathroom upstairs. He knocked on the door.

 

"It's me."

 

The door opened. Ayako had a toothbrush in her mouth and gestured him to come inside. She seemed a bit awkward and avoided eye contact. Lin couldn't blame her after what he told her this morning. He really should have worded it differently in hindsight. Lin closed the door behind him and watched her finish up brushing her teeth. She went on to remove her make-up and splashing her face with water. He always found it interesting how different she looked without the make-up.

 

She said, "I got two spare brushes for you and Naru here. Just use one of the tubes over there for the paste."

 

"Thank you," he said.

 

"It's no problem. I just can't believe that stupid monk did that with Yasuhara. Couldn't they have taken it to their bedroom for the sake of our sanity?!" she said, while drying her face with a towel.

 

Lin fully empathized with her. It had not been a pretty sight.

 

"I agree, but what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

 

Ayako looked at her towel.

 

"Well, Mai just told me about the medicine."

 

"The medicine seller's?"

 

She nodded.

 

"It's an aphrodisiac."

 

Lin felt his throat going dry. 

 

"What?"

 

"Yes. Don't ask me why she had it, but apparently she threw it into a bin at your bungalow."

 

All sorts of questions started running through his head. Yes, why did she have it? Why did she bring it to their bungalow? Just for whom-

 

"...Lin-san?"

 

"Yes?"

 

Ayako put the towel down. She seemed similarly disturbed.

 

"Do you think those guys might be affected by that aphrodisiac?"

 

Lin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

"An aphrodisiac wouldn't compromise a person's volition."

 

Ayako rolled.

 

"Okay, so that means they've been together for a while," she dryly said. "Stupid monk."

 

The man leaned against the door and put a hand over his face. He could barely believe it. If there were any signs of that sort of relationship, he could not recall it. Whatever had been going on had been trivial jokes, but any closeness? No.

 

Lin blinked when Ayako went over to the laundry basket and opened it.

 

"Actually I was planning to tell that monk, but you'll do I guess. I found this last night, and it just bothered me," she said, and took out a shirt, pants, bra, panties. Lin had to urge to look away, but was rewarded when he saw the next item dangling from her fingers. That dress obviously belonged to Mai. His face turned very pale and his mouth drew shut. Ayako was observing him as his eyes closed to research his own thoughts.

 

"I've seen enough. Thank you Matsuzaki-san."

 

"So, you do know something huh?"

 

She put the items back into the basket, and proceeded to stand right in front of him.

 

"I haven't seen her getting into the house like that."

 

"I'm sure you haven't," he said.

 

"Then, mind sharing a bit of you thoughts?"

 

Lin sighed.

 

"I need to talk to Naru about this first."

 

"What. Why would you-" Ayako paused, then realized what Lin was implying. "Did that brat do something?!"

 

"Matsuzaki-san, there's no need to worry. I'll confirm it first."

 

However, the miko suddenly grabbed his tie, and pulled at it, causing him to lean down near her face.

 

"I can tell that Mai is keeping secrets. She's hiding something! Those brats are probably going at it behind our backs just like that monk and that kid!" Ayako whispered in his ear. "I know if I bring this up, she won't tell me anything. I bet she was out in the forest the entire night."

 

She was probably on spot about that, but he didn't confirm anything.

 

"I'm sorry, you're only responsible for Naru. But I'm being the worried single parent, since the other one is busy enjoying himself so much," Ayako complained.

 

Lin almost wondered if Ayako was disappointed with Takigawa going after someone else. If anything, everyone including him almost expected them to hook up with the way they were constantly looking at each other.

 

"Matsuzaki-san, I'll tell you later-"

 

When he said that, the door behind him opened and he belatedly realized that he hadn't locked it. Turning his head Lin found Mai standing there with her jaw dropped.

 

"A-ah, am I i-interrupting you?" the girl stuttered and covered her mouth with a hand.

 

Lin looked back at the miko. She stared blankly at the girl.

 

"Matsuzaki-san, tie," Lin almost whispered

 

An embarrassed Ayako let go of the tie immediately, and tried not to look at him at all. She scrambled out of the bathroom, and laughed at the girl.

 

"Don't get the wrong idea, Mai! I, I was just showing Lin-san where the toothbrushes were. Yes, the toothbrushes. Ahahaha!" she laughed almost hysterically as she left to her bedroom. "Goodnight!"

 

Mai watched her leave with a faint pink tainting her cheeks.

 

Lin straightened himself and looked at the toothpaste on the counter.

 

"Taniyama-san, whose toothpaste is this?"

 

She cleared her throat.

 

"The red one's Ayako's. I use the green one."

 

"I see," he grabbed the red tube.

 

 

(o)~(o)

 

 

22:45 (10:45 PM)

 

After brushing his teeth Lin returned to the bedroom, undid himself of the tie and sat down at the edge of his bed. Naru shifted his eyes towards his caretaker. The boy was sitting on his bed, thinking about what was going on recently. The thefts, the murder, the fog, the selective amnesia... Were they related?

 

Suddenly, Lin spoke without a warning.

 

"Explain why you fainted the other day."

 

Naru frowned.

 

"I didn't sleep the night before," he replied, went to lay down and glanced at the ceiling.

 

"I don't think so. You've done that before without fainting."

 

"You're thinking I did something to cause myself to faint?"

 

"Such as using psychokinesis on mud balls?"

 

Naru turned his head sharply to Lin and raised an eyebrow.

 

"What about it?"

 

Lin sighed.

 

"You can't fool me twice, Naru. Especially as Madoka and I were the very targets of your pranks back in the day," he muttered.

 

His pranks? Naru never did any.... Oh, wait.

 

Lin was talking about the time when Gene had coaxed his little brother into using PK in a snowball fight against the adults during winter holidays in Austria. He had agreed to it in exchange for some alone time from everyone else, including brother dearest. Naru had almost forgotten how Lin never forgave them for making every ball an instant hit. The Chinese man was an easy target due to his height and as the two brothers were, they almost managed to avoid every hit. Indeed, those were the days as pre-teens.

 

"Naru, you promised..." Lin began to speak with an authoritative tone.

 

"I can't remember doing that."

 

The man blinked in surprise."

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"I don't remember anything from the first night we were here," Naru said, "To be precise, the last thing I remember was being in the living room. I don't remember anything about going to bed that night. I simply woke up in my bedroom late in the morning."

 

Lin was shocked.

 

"That's... impossible. Why did that happen?"

 

"....I don't know."

 

"You were outside the entire night, and when I caught you returning in the morning, you said that you had been playing with the... forest spirits," the man said.

 

Naru frowned.

 

"Why would I play with the... forest spirits?"

 

"...I thought you'd know why," Lin sighed.

 

He shook his head, before narrowing his eyes.

 

"Why did you just tell me about the mud balls?"

 

"Any person who'd seen you that morning could have told you that you either accidentally slipped or had a mud fight with someone," he said. "More importantly, Matsuzaki-san showed me something that is probably related to this."

 

"What is it?"

 

"Mudstains on Taniyama-san's clothes."

 

Naru looked wide-eyed at Lin for a moment, then stared at his hands.

 

"...I see. She was telling the truth after all."

 

"Taniyama-san told you?!"

 

"I though she was having some silly dream, because it couldn't have been me..."

 

However, Lin shook his head.

 

"You weren't possessed when we met. It was definitely you," Lin confirmed, "I would have noticed it."

 

They said nothing for a while. Lin wanted to pursue the topic of why Mai was there with him at night, but he refrained from doing so. If Naru knew absolutely nothing, then it would be useless to prod. He pushed the aphrodisiac issue aside. It was irrelevant. Lin was only curious about one thing.

 

"Does Mai know that you don't remember?"

 

"No. I pretended I knew."

 

"You may want to tell her before she finds out herself."

 

Naru remained oddly quiet. It was too complicated. He had a nagging feeling about what he had done that night, and he could already tell that Mai was emotionally invested in it with the way she acted. It would create even more problems for Mai and him, and he couldn't afford those during the case.

 

"This bothers me," Lin said after a while. "Why did we remember, and you didn't?"

 

"Whatever force is behind this, I'd imagine they didn't want me to."

 

"In my humble opinion it's sloppily done," he said.

 

"Obviously. I had tried to remember all of the memory gaps at the shelter, but all I got in return was a big headache," Naru said. "It only stopped after you talked to me later that day."

 

Lin frowned.

 

"Really, that's interesting. No more headaches after that?"

 

"None at all. Though I still can't remember," he said, "I can't think of a reason why they would do this to me..."

 

"For fun," Lin suggested, and pulled up his bedsheets and rested on his side. "Don't forget to brush your teeth. Matsuzaki-san gave us some spare toothbrushes. Yours is on the shelf."

 

Naru looked up at him and sighed.

 

"Got it."

 

It was quite likely he was being played with. He wondered if it would happen again, but at least he was no longer an unsuspecting pawn in this game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To summarize... Due to a murder mystery the trip of the forest is cancelled. Fortunately, Lin and Naru figure out someone or something is messing around with them. But what is SPR planning to do with the apples and the two gentlemen in the other bungalow? We're finally getting to the meat of the story, readers!
> 
> The Mononoke cast is quite big, but you don't need to remember all of them. The most important ones you need to look out for so far are the Medicine Seller, Rekiyo (Motohashi's daughter), Tamako (Jinguji's employee and niece) and Odagiri (the head officer).
> 
> Next time I will include an extra story in five parts at the end of each chapter. Due to its nature and the time-frame the extra never happens within the actual story. Nonetheless, I hope you will enjoy it!
> 
> Reincarnated Mononoke characters in this chapter.
> 
> Odagiri Kouji: Odajima (Bake Neko)
> 
> Wakabayashi Munesuke: Naosuke (Zashiki Warashi)


End file.
